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The Brendan Sorsby situation has taken on a life of its own, both in college football and the NFL.
That's probably the biggest reason Sorsby opted to enter the NFL's supplemental draft and forgo his upcoming season at Texas Tech earlier this week. The entire saga was becoming a bigger distraction than it was worth.
Sorsby had already fought for his NCAA eligibility to be reinstated in court and won, via a temporary injunction granted by an independent judge. Mass hysteria unfolded in the days that followed and just hours before Sorsby announced his decision, the Big 12 had filed a lawsuit of its own against Texas Tech, seeking the ability to invoke its own punishment on the 22-year-old QB.
This all started with Sorsby admitting to placing more than 9,000 bets, over a three-year span while enrolled at Indiana, Cincinnati and most recently Texas Tech. That cumbersome total also included at least 40 bets on his own team.
He broke the Cardinal sin of professional sports, and even though he'll bypass any consequences that could have been headed his way in college, that doesn't mean he'll get off free and easy in the pros.
A suspension could be on the table once he arrives in the NFL. It adds another piece to the puzzle for any team considering placing a bid on him in the supplemental draft.
The Cleveland Browns may be one of them. Executive Vice President of Football Operations Andrew Berry and his staff have a little more than a month to decide whether or not Sorsby is with pursuing.
© Nathan Giese/Avalanche-Journal
In truth, these evaluations start about two years in advance, so Cleveland has undoubtedly done some baseline scouting on Sorsby already. What the next few weeks are about, though, is figuring out if a prospect who would have benefited from another year in college, with a major red flag in the form of a gambling addiction, is worth investing some sort of draft capital in.
Any team bidding on Sorsby has to believe his recent stint in rehab has helped him correct the behavior. And that he's determined to stay on the straight and narrow and avoid a relapse that would cost him his career.
Berry tends to show grace to players with character concerns and Sorsby is probably no different. Still, it's a complicated decision for the Browns when new head coach Todd Monken is on the record saying adding a player in Sorsby's situation is a "slippery slope."
And yet, any team that doesn't have a franchise QB should always be willing to turn over any stone to find one. The Browns are certainly included in that, considering the fact that they're overseeing an open competition at quarterback right now between Deshaun Watson and Shedeur Sanders.
Sorsby is essentially a scratch-off lottery ticket, with the potential to turn a team like Cleveland into one of the NFL's haves if he hits. Any chance to strike it big at the game's most important position is too good to pass up.
Berry and the Browns are also not strangers to taking a big swing on a quarterback. The controversial Deshaun Watson trade remains living proof of that. How that move has backfired means the Browns can't be flippant about another QB opportunity. It also can't cripple them from taking those swings again, though.
The most obvious difference with the Watson move, of course, is that there was evidence of him being one of the best quarterbacks in the world at the NFL level before acquiring him and all his baggage. With Sorsby, we're talking about a player with a deal-breaker circumstance, who is going to need time to develop at the next level.
When push comes to shove, yes, Cleveland should be willing to take on the risks associated with Sorsby, but only at the right price.
Some of the early chatter around the pick value for Sorsby has seemed to center around a third or potentially second-round pick bids being in play. Forfeiting a Day 1 or Day 2 pick on a player who may end up banned if he ever relapses just feels foolish.
The sweet spot feels like a fourth-round pick. It's unlikely to be anywhere near enough to actually win the rights to Sorsby in the supplemental draft, but it's the level of pick that Cleveland can live with swallowing if it did land him and, God forbid, he flamed out.
Conversely, if he turns into the long-coveted QB the franchise has dreamed of, well, it's a small price to pay to fill the most important position on any roster. Either way, for a fourth, the Browns can live with the results of landing Sorsby or missing out on him.
Anything beyond that goes from being fiscally responsible to just flat out desperate and as Cleveland knows all too well, desperate is a bad place to do business from.
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That's probably the biggest reason Sorsby opted to enter the NFL's supplemental draft and forgo his upcoming season at Texas Tech earlier this week. The entire saga was becoming a bigger distraction than it was worth.
Sorsby had already fought for his NCAA eligibility to be reinstated in court and won, via a temporary injunction granted by an independent judge. Mass hysteria unfolded in the days that followed and just hours before Sorsby announced his decision, the Big 12 had filed a lawsuit of its own against Texas Tech, seeking the ability to invoke its own punishment on the 22-year-old QB.
This all started with Sorsby admitting to placing more than 9,000 bets, over a three-year span while enrolled at Indiana, Cincinnati and most recently Texas Tech. That cumbersome total also included at least 40 bets on his own team.
He broke the Cardinal sin of professional sports, and even though he'll bypass any consequences that could have been headed his way in college, that doesn't mean he'll get off free and easy in the pros.
A suspension could be on the table once he arrives in the NFL. It adds another piece to the puzzle for any team considering placing a bid on him in the supplemental draft.
The Cleveland Browns may be one of them. Executive Vice President of Football Operations Andrew Berry and his staff have a little more than a month to decide whether or not Sorsby is with pursuing.
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© Nathan Giese/Avalanche-Journal
In truth, these evaluations start about two years in advance, so Cleveland has undoubtedly done some baseline scouting on Sorsby already. What the next few weeks are about, though, is figuring out if a prospect who would have benefited from another year in college, with a major red flag in the form of a gambling addiction, is worth investing some sort of draft capital in.
Any team bidding on Sorsby has to believe his recent stint in rehab has helped him correct the behavior. And that he's determined to stay on the straight and narrow and avoid a relapse that would cost him his career.
Berry tends to show grace to players with character concerns and Sorsby is probably no different. Still, it's a complicated decision for the Browns when new head coach Todd Monken is on the record saying adding a player in Sorsby's situation is a "slippery slope."
And yet, any team that doesn't have a franchise QB should always be willing to turn over any stone to find one. The Browns are certainly included in that, considering the fact that they're overseeing an open competition at quarterback right now between Deshaun Watson and Shedeur Sanders.
Sorsby is essentially a scratch-off lottery ticket, with the potential to turn a team like Cleveland into one of the NFL's haves if he hits. Any chance to strike it big at the game's most important position is too good to pass up.
Berry and the Browns are also not strangers to taking a big swing on a quarterback. The controversial Deshaun Watson trade remains living proof of that. How that move has backfired means the Browns can't be flippant about another QB opportunity. It also can't cripple them from taking those swings again, though.
The most obvious difference with the Watson move, of course, is that there was evidence of him being one of the best quarterbacks in the world at the NFL level before acquiring him and all his baggage. With Sorsby, we're talking about a player with a deal-breaker circumstance, who is going to need time to develop at the next level.
When push comes to shove, yes, Cleveland should be willing to take on the risks associated with Sorsby, but only at the right price.
Some of the early chatter around the pick value for Sorsby has seemed to center around a third or potentially second-round pick bids being in play. Forfeiting a Day 1 or Day 2 pick on a player who may end up banned if he ever relapses just feels foolish.
The sweet spot feels like a fourth-round pick. It's unlikely to be anywhere near enough to actually win the rights to Sorsby in the supplemental draft, but it's the level of pick that Cleveland can live with swallowing if it did land him and, God forbid, he flamed out.
Conversely, if he turns into the long-coveted QB the franchise has dreamed of, well, it's a small price to pay to fill the most important position on any roster. Either way, for a fourth, the Browns can live with the results of landing Sorsby or missing out on him.
Anything beyond that goes from being fiscally responsible to just flat out desperate and as Cleveland knows all too well, desperate is a bad place to do business from.
Browns Roundtable also offers a fan community and message board. We’d love to have you join us to talk all things Browns. Click the “Join” button at the top of the page to join our community for free.
Continue reading...
