Breaking down the Brendan Sorsby situation
Yahoo Sports host Andrew Siciliano and senior NFL writers Charles Robinson and Frank Schwab break down the gambling addiction situation surrounding Texas Tech QB Brendan Sorsby. Check out the full conversation on "Inside Coverage" - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , YouTube or wherever you listen.
Video Transcript
Yeah, and I, I, you know, I think you talk about the Kessler hire.
You know, Jeffrey Kessler is someone who is steeped in fighting, you know, i- in it when it comes to labor, when it comes to antitrust.
And it, it was interesting to me because the hire of Jeffrey Kessler And by the way, just in case people are not completely versed with Brendan Souersby, you know, we're talking about, you know, there have been reports that he's made as many as 10,000 bets, you know, since 2022. you know, the NCAA is still investigating him right now.
They're not as-- There, there's no finality at this point on the NCAA's part when it comes to his eligibility.
But the way the Kessler hire by Brendan Souersby and his camp was framed was this is him trying to retain, to claw down on his, el- college eligibility, maybe serve a suspension, and then play out his senior season, at Texas Tech, which frankly I think teams would be happy to see that ultimately happen, at least for his teams.
So they don't have to deal with it now.
Right, they don't have to deal with it right away, and they can spend more time on this.
But what's also interesting about this too is Kessler's done battle with the NFL repeatedly.
I mean, I go back to the Ezekiel Elliott case.
I mean, you know, Jeffrey Kessler is very versed at fighting with the, with the NFL when it comes to, you know, suspensions, you know, right to, you know, not limit someone's ability to go out and play football games.
so really it's, it's-- it was at a really prominent agent where he's like, "Look, this is so clearly two-pronged."
Like it's, yeah, sure, they're handling the college side and seeing what they can do there, but if that fails, they're already starting to get ahead of how the NFL will treat Brendan Souersby if he now tries to enter the supplemental draft.
And the N- and the NFL, if they were to say, "Oh, wait a minute.
Wait, wait, wait.
We're not just gonna automatically be, this fail-safe for people who get suspended or have their, their eligibility forfeited on the college level.
We're not gonna be the easy out.
You're not just gonna jump into the supplemental draft, and we're gonna allow that to happen."
At that point, Kessler's like, "Okay, I'm ready to go."
He cracks his knuckles and he says, "I've, I've worked this territory before," maybe not with a gambling addiction, but i- in, in other ways, shapes, and forms.
So I mean, it's, again, it's so layered.
There are so many things.
I, you know An, an executive even said to me at one point, and I hadn't even thought about it.
He said, "Look," one of the things, and I'm paraphrasing here, but there's a quote in the story where he talks about, "I, I would have to study gambling addiction."
Like this isn't like substance abuse.
Like, well, I don't You know, he doesn't know what is gambling addiction all about.
How is it treated?
How long does that treatment take?
What, what are the chances of a recurrence, and then how do you then treat a recurrence?
it's, it, it's becoming versed on something that I think the NFL has never had to approach in this manner.
And with a player, by the way, n- if we wanna talk about the football side, who some thought once he plays out his, his season at Texas Tech could play himself into maybe top 10 pick territory in the 2027 draft.
Yeah, we're gonna talk Tre- Trevor Sikma's on in a little bit.
I, I'm gonna ask him that question.
Like all things being equal here, without the gambling i- if we could even begin to take that away, where would you rank him in next year's class?
