Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby, whose lawsuit to regain his NCAA eligibility after he was banned for gambling turned into college football’s latest controversy, has officially applied for the NFL supplemental draft. Here we answer some questions about how the supplemental draft works:
What is the NFL Supplemental Draft?
The supplemental draft is a separate draft that takes place during the summer if a player who was not in the regular draft in April loses his college football eligibility.
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The NFL’s Collective Bargaining Agreement states the following: “If a player who was not eligible for the Draft in any League Year becomes eligible after the date of the Draft, he will be eligible to be selected in a Supplemental Draft, if the League elects to conduct such a Draft, on or before the seventh calendar day prior to the opening of the first training camp that League Year. No player may elect to bypass a Draft for which he is eligible to apply for selection in a Supplemental Draft. Any Club that selects a player in a Supplemental Draft must forfeit a choice in the same round in the next succeeding principal Draft.”
Is Brendan Sorsby in the 2026 NFL Supplemental Draft?
Not yet. He has applied, but the NFL’s rules state that he’s not in the draft until he’s approved: “To be eligible for a Supplemental Draft, a player’s petition for special eligibility must be approved by the League office and his name sent to clubs no later than 10 calendar days prior to the last day on which a Supplemental Draft can be conducted.” Most league observers expect Sorsby will be approved, but that hasn’t happened yet.
When is the 2026 NFL Supplemental Draft?
On or before July 16. The official date has not yet been determined, but the NFL’s Collective Bargaining Agreement states that if there is a supplemental draft it will take place “on or before the seventh calendar day prior to the opening of the first training camp.” The first training camp is expected to open on July 23, which means the supplemental draft would need to take place at least seven days before that, or July 16.
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2026 NFL Supplemental Draft order
The NFL will conduct a lottery to determine the supplemental draft order, but it’s really more like three separate lotteries, in which the worst teams are guaranteed to get the higher picks in the supplemental draft. As the team with the first overall pick in the 2026 NFL draft, the Raiders will get their name in the lottery 32 times, and then the Jets, with the second overall pick, will get their name in the lottery 31 times, and so on. As the defending Super Bowl champions, the Seahawks will get their name in the lottery one time.
But the Raiders and Seahawks won’t be in the same lottery. Instead, the Raiders, Jets and the eight other teams that won six or fewer games last season will have their names in one container, and a drawing will be conducted only among those teams to determine the top 10 teams in the supplemental draft priority.
Then a second drawing will take place among the eight teams that won at least seven games but missed the playoffs, and those teams will be ordered 11th through 17th, after the teams that won less than seven games, but before the playoff teams.
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Finally, a third drawing will take place among the 14 playoff teams to determine the rest of the order.
NFL Supplemental Draft rules 2026
Teams “bid” on a player by submitting to the league which pick they would be willing to give up in next year’s draft for that player. A team that selects a player in a Supplemental Draft must forfeit that specific selection in the same round in the next year’s regular draft. So if the highest bid on Sorsby is a 2027 second-round pick, that team would get Sorsby and would not have its second-round pick in the 2027 NFL draft.
If two teams bid the same round pick for Sorsby, that’s when the lottery matters: If, say, there are two second-round bids for Sorsby, from the Jets and Cardinals, two teams that won fewer than six games last season, then the team that got the higher pick in the lottery would get Sorsby and the other team would keep its 2027 second-round pick.
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NFL Supplemental Draft history
Some years the NFL Supplemental Draft is a big deal; other years there is no Supplemental Draft. The last time the league had one was in 2023, and that year no player was picked. The last player to get picked was Jalen Thompson, a safety from Washington State who went to the Cardinals with a fifth-round pick in the 2019 supplemental draft.
But a handful of very well-known players have gone in the supplemental draft: The Browns used a second-round pick on Josh Gordon in the 2012 supplemental draft, and he became one of the best wide receivers in the league before the same substance-abuse issues that ended his NCAA eligibility also derailed his NFL career.
Former Ohio State quarterback Terelle Pryor went to the Raiders with a third-round pick in the 2011 NFL draft, and his case is notable because the NFL decided to apply a five-game suspension he had been given in college to the start of his pro career. That precedent could prove relevant to Sorsby, who could face NFL discipline for his college gambling.
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The last player taken with a first-round pick in the supplemental draft was quarterback Dave Brown, who went to the Giants in 1992. Brown never amounted to much, and the pick the Giants gave up to get him proved to be the No. 9 overall pick in the 1993 NFL draft.
Other notable players taken in supplemental drafts include Hall of Fame wide receiver Cris Carter, longtime Browns quarterback Bernie Kosar and bad boy linebacker Brian Bosworth
Are there any other 2026 NFL Supplemental Draft prospects?
At the moment, Sorsby is the only player known to have applied. It’s still possible some other player will also attempt to enter the supplemental draft, but for now, it’s all about Sorsby.
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