The Pittsburgh Steelers already took one gamble on a quarterback with their No. 76 overall pick in the draft, but could they double down on a talented young quarterback currently mired in a sports-betting scandal? Brendan Sorsby will reportedly apply for the supplemental draft after mutually parting ways with Texas Tech.
Former NFL GM Mike Tannenbaum thinks the Steelers should consider adding him to an already-crowded quarterback room.
“You have Cleveland, the Jets, Arizona, Miami, but how about teams like Minnesota, maybe Atlanta? What about Pittsburgh?” Tannenbaum said Tuesday via ESPN’s Get Up. “What an unexpected opportunity. If you could get past the transgressions, you may have a young, talented quarterback for the next decade. Pittsburgh drafts Drew Allar, but Aaron Rodgers is close to the end. Some team may be proactive and say this is an unexpected opportunity.”
News of Sorsby’s betting scandal break until April 27. Had he entered the 2026 NFL Draft, there’s a good chance a team would have spent a first-round pick on him on April 23 only to have the bottom fall out a few days later.
On talent alone, some viewed him as having No. 1 overall pick potential in next year’s draft. In a quarterback-needy league, surely some team will make a calculated bet in the supplemental draft next month.
The little-known event is a blind-bid process where teams submit a pick they are willing to part with in the following NFL draft. Hypothetically, if a team like the Steelers wanted to submit a fifth-round bid, and nobody else made a higher offer, he’d be on his way to Pittsburgh.
Insider buzz over the last couple months has suggested a team could bid as high as a second- or even first-round pick on Sorsby, and there are reportedly plenty of teams doing their homework on him behind the scenes.
If a team like the Cleveland Browns was willing to trade three first-round picks for Deshaun Watson while he was mired in controversy arguably much worse, should we really be surprised if a team bids a first rounder in the supplemental draft? All it takes is one team.
The complicated layer to this situation is whether or not Sorsby will face criminal charges. He won’t be able to rely on the opinion of one judge in an injunction case at that point. It’s entirely possible there’s an investigation going on behind the scenes, but the feds are notorious for waiting until they have a slam-dunk conviction before pressing charges.
To me, Pittsburgh should stay a mile away from Sorsby. It would create an unnecessary roster crunch, possibly forcing Will Howard out the door. It’s hard enough to find reps for two young quarterbacks to develop, let alone three. The locker room distraction and inevitable media storm that follows whichever team wins the bid probably isn’t something the Steelers want to deal with.
It’s obvious that the Steelers need a long-term quarterback, and they should turn over every stone until they find one. But some risks just aren’t worth the potential ramifications.