The Brendan Sorsby saga is nearing its completion. After searching for authorized means to maintain his NCAA eligibility at Texas Tech, Sorsby has determined to forego that eligibility and enter the NFL Supplemental Draft this summer season.
For the uninitiated, groups can bid a selected spherical draft decide for any participant who has entered the Supplemental Draft. The workforce that provides the very best decide is awarded the participant and loses the corresponding-round decide within the following draft. If a number of groups bid the identical spherical decide the participant goes to the workforce with the upper precedence decide based mostly on the earlier 12 months’s standings.
The Supplemental Draft doesn’t occur yearly. It’s reserved for gamers whose draft eligibility modified after the NFL Draft in April and who groups deem are NFL-caliber expertise. That’s a small cross-section of the Venn Diagram.
Brendan Sorsby falls proper useless heart in it. Sorsby’s expertise is actual. However the playing points that encompass him make him seemingly the primary supplemental decide in years, and the highest-profile title since former NFL receiver Josh Gordon
Would the Bucs be keen on Sorsby? Sufficient to place a bid in on him? They’re within the midst of contract negotiations with 31-year outdated beginning quarterback Baker Mayfield. Their investments in his backups at present embody a one-year deal for veteran Jake Browning and two undrafted free brokers in Connor Bazelak and Jalon Daniels. A younger and gifted backup who can present long-term stability for the workforce could also be one thing the workforce sees as a uncommon alternative.
Brendan Sorsby Scouting Report
I took a take a look at Brendan Sorsby’s 2025 season to see what his strengths and weaknesses are and what may make the Bucs, or different groups, see within the younger passer that may trigger them to make a blind bid within the upcoming Supplemental Draft. And on the finish I’ll attempt to make my finest willpower on what that bid could be even contemplating the ancillary circumstances surrounding Sorsby.
Video games Watched: 2025 Oklahoma State, 2025 Baylor, 2025 Utah
Peak: 6-foot-3Weight: 235 kilos
These bodily measurements are from the Cincinnati Bearcats web site.
Brendan Sorsby 2025 Statistical Profile
By Professional Soccer Focus’ accounting Sorsby threw for two,800 yards, 27 touchdowns and 5 interceptions. He accomplished 61.4% of his passes whereas logging a 107.0 QB score. On the bottom he ran for 580 yards and one other 9 scores.
As a passer, Sorsby’s profile is one in every of a high-impact participant who avoids unfavorable performs however struggles to finish passes at a league common charge. As a runner, Sorsby is without doubt one of the extra harmful quarterbacks within the NCAA final 12 months.
Strengths
Sorsby’s arm expertise is a plus. He can assault virtually any space of the sector and has the power to hit throws downfield. Past the arm power, what makes his arm expertise stand out is his means so as to add and subtract velocity, modulate arc and tempo and hit particular areas inside a receiver’s catch radius (i.e. lead them past/away from protection, hit the again shoulder, and so forth.), and his means so as to add contact to his passes.
On shorter creating performs Sorsby exhibits belief within the scheme, route and receiver and is keen to throw into NFL home windows the place he has to launch the ball earlier than his receiver has made his break or turned to search for the ball. The previous Cincinnati quarterback trusts his arm and is keen to assault tight home windows however hardly ever places the ball into hurt’s manner. His 96th percentile turnover-worthy play charge and eighty fifth percentile interception charge each again that up.
However whereas he avoids turnovers, Sorsby continues to be in a position to push the ball downfield and make huge performs. That’s why his big-time throw, landing, yards per try, and common depth of goal percentiles are within the 91st, ninety fifth, 79th and 89th percentiles, respectively.
Whereas he assaults the deep portion of the sector his sack charge is low. Sorsby has a fast processor inside the system he runs. He is ready to transfer via his first and second learn seamlessly and make the choice to win along with his ft earlier than he will get into bother. That has led to an elite stress to sack charge that I feel will translate to the NFL relatively nicely.
Sorsby’s sack avoidance performs up as a result of he’s a plus athlete with some real wheels and wiggle to assist him create performs out of construction and thru designed runs. He blends his out-of-structure operating with a unfastened arm that may throw from a number of arm slots letting him assault from inside and out of doors of the pocket.
His time to throw is a tad greater than the median, however when Sorsby is working inside construction, he has a fast set off that matches his processor. However when he does break the pocket and decides to assault defenses along with his ft, he can decide up yards, first downs and touchdowns along with his plus athleticism, pace and shiftiness.
Probably the most encouraging a part of his recreation from my watches was the least voluminous half. When he was given the chance to assault the intermediate center of the sector, he confirmed nice resolution making, course of, arm expertise and accuracy. That is usually the world of the sector that separates the perfect NFL quarterbacks from the remainder of NFL quarterbacks.
Issues
His adjusted completion charge, which strips out throwaways, drops and passes batted on the line of scrimmage, is beneath common. That holds true even whenever you stabilize for the truth that he was attacking areas of the sector the place a completion is much less seemingly.
This normal accuracy problem balloons on the sidelines, particularly to Sorsby’s proper. I personally wrestle with it as an evaluator as a result of there are such a lot of situations of him exhibiting high-level ball placement inside the catch window. However as a result of Sorsby was operating an RPO-heavy system the place he did look to create, I consider most of those accuracy points are a results of inconsistent mechanics that will should be cleaned up on the NFL degree.
That creator mindset additionally led to a few reps the place he tried to keep away from stress by bailing out of the again of the pocket, and at instances absolutely turning his again to the sector. Within the NFL these decisions will result in negatives much more usually than positives.
As I mentioned within the strengths part, Sorsby’s play when he attacked the intermediate center of the sector was a plus. But it surely was additionally a rarity. So what I noticed might have been a small-sample problem. I can’t confidently say based mostly off of the pattern I noticed whether or not it’s a repeatable and transferable ability. I might qualify it proper now as extra of an unknown with a hopeful asterisk hooked up.
The RPO-heavy scheme he operated in final 12 months additionally results in pure questions I simply don’t have solutions to proper now. It requested for a quick-trigger operator, and Sorsby match the mildew nicely. But it surely additionally leaves questions as to how nicely he can function a extra developed and complex system that asks him to go underneath heart, flip his again to the protection (on play motion, not as a response to stress) and browse out full-field progressions. I’m assured he can get to his second learn. Not a lot in regards to the third, fourth and fifth. And that system purposefully ignored particular areas of the sector which Sorsby could have to have the ability to assault within the NFL.
Last Ideas
The bodily profile is tantalizing. Brendan Sorby’s measurement, arm and mobility are all that one would need from a quarterback. The processor is a work-in-progress, however he has proven upper-bound resolution making inside the system he has been requested to run. On the sector Sorsby is a promising prospect able to being a prime 10 quarterback within the NFL. However the questions surrounding his means to maneuver via progressions and assault elements of the sector required to win on the NFL degree forestall him from being a lock as a primary spherical decide.
Bucs VP of personnel Mike Biehl and GM Jason Licht – Picture courtesy of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
And that’s earlier than the playing points that time to his decision-making as an individual. That’s an actual query that requires investigation by groups. I perceive folks make errors. However the NFL has strict insurance policies concerning sports activities playing and groups must resolve what his threat profile is past Sorsby as an on-field product.
If I have been a call maker inside the Bucs’ group, or another for that matter, I might be keen to place a third-round decide on the road for the chance to develop him. It represents his potential and developmental curve, that I might classify as a tier-2 prospect – somebody who would sometimes go late within the first or early within the second spherical of a conventional spring draft, with the extra threat that surrounds him based mostly on the playing points.
