A bombshell dropped on the football world on Monday, with the report that Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby would be applying for the NFL Supplemental Draft. This news came just days after he had been cleared to play in the 2026 college football season.
This development will obviously have a big impact on Texas Tech , who was relying on having an experienced quarterback to elevate them into championship contender status. That said, there will also be a huge impact on the NFL, as the supplemental draft figures to have its first player selected since Sam Beal in 2019.
Being a quarterback, Sorsby has the chance to be selected higher than the typical supplemental draft entrant. Quarterback-needy teams that didn't take a quarterback in this year's draft could circle back around and consider selecting him. In spite of his gambling issues, with the tools that he displayed in college, there's a good chance he gets drafted earlier than you think.
Based on my analysis of Sorsby's collegiate tape , I wanted to share where he ranks in my grading scale compared to the top quarterbacks of the 2026 NFL Draft. Please note that these are my own individual rankings and don't reflect the order in which the NFL selected these players.
Taylen Green ended up as a sixth-round pick by the Cleveland Browns, where he projects to compete for their third-string quarterback role with Dillon Gabriel . Green is an incredibly raw passer with accuracy issues but one with elite size, speed, and arm talent. He was worth the Day 3 flyer based on his physical attributes alone.
As a fourth-round pick, Cade Klubnik probably won't become the long-term starter for the New York Jets , but stranger things have happened. He gave me Bo Nix vibes in his 2024 season with a solid arm and good game-managing capabilities, but he was more erratic in 2025. He could be a steal if the Jets can unlock his full potential.
It's an odd thought in today's NIL era to see a one-year FCS starting quarterback get selected in the NFL Draft, but that's what you have with Cole Payton. Though rough around the edges, he has a nice build at 6'3″ and 233 pounds, a nice arm, and impressive athleticism. What separates him from a Taylen Green type is superior touch on the deep ball.
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Luke Altmyer was never going to project as an early-round pick due to his lack of premier physical attributes, but I was surprised he went undrafted entirely. The Detroit Lions snagged him as a free agent, and I think he has the chance to stick around as their backup for a long time with his cerebral playing style and ability to progress past his first read.
It feels like Drew Allar never fulfilled his potential at Penn State, but it's that untapped upside that had him selected in the third round by the Pittsburgh Steelers . He has elite size and a cannon of an arm, and though he still has to improve his footwork and throwing mechanics, I saw improvement in his decision making over his collegiate career.
I had Carson Beck as a fourth-round talent, so his selection by the Arizona Cardinals as the first pick in Round 3 was a bit steep for me. That said, I get the approach; he's an experienced, accurate passer who's played in some of the toughest environments in college football and won. I don't love the arm talent, but I think a spot starter future is certainly possible with him.
It was a big surprise to me that Garrett Nussmeier fell all the way to the seventh round. He'll obviously project as a backup for Patrick Mahomes on the Kansas City Chiefs , but I thought his 2024 tape was really good. He lacked elite size or athleticism, but his throws had nice velocity and touch behind them, and he's shown he can get the ball out quickly and accurately.
Compared to the "second tier" of quarterbacks in the 2026 NFL Draft, I'd arguably Brendan Sorsby would've been the best combination of upside and tangible production. He has good size for the position, and his arm was one of the strongest in college football playing last year at Cincinnati . He can stretch the field vertically and hit throws into tight windows with high velocity.
Sorsby's arm talent is better than someone like Beck or Nussmeier, but he's also more accurate than someone like Allar, who got by heavily on untapped potential. I'd like to see Sorsby improve his decision-making under pressure, and his legal issues knock his evaluation a little bit.
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That said, I would've comfortably used a third-round pick on him in the 2026 NFL Draft. Given the gap between the two top quarterbacks and the rest of the class, a Round 2 selection by a QB-needy team would've made sense.
Texas Tech's Brendan Sorsby looks on during the spring football game, Friday, April 17, 2026, at Jones AT&T Stadium.
Compared to Sorsby, Ty Simpson doesn't have the same level of arm talent or size. That said, I think Simpson was much more consistent as a processor, scanning the field and finding the open man through full-field progressions. The Los Angeles Rams ' first-round pick is an accurate passer whose processing was much beyond that of the typical one-year collegiate starter you see entering the NFL.
Fernando Mendoza was the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft for a reason. He's the most complete combination of size, accuracy, arm talent, decision-making, and big-game pedigree. Coming off a Heisman Trophy season and a national championship with Indiana, he was the obvious choice with the first pick for the Las Vegas Raiders .
