Evaluating the Idea of Taking Sorsby in the Supplemental Draft

The Miami Dolphins didn't double down on the acquisition of Malik Willis by taking a quarterback in the 2026 NFL draft, but they might get another chance to supplement (pun intended) the Willis signing soon.

And the question is whether the team should even consider the idea of taking former Indiana University and Cincinnati quarterback Brendan Sorsby in, you guessed it, the supplemental draft.

Sorsby was set to play the 2026 season for Texas Tech, but his status is in limbo now after he entered a residential treatment facility for a gambling addiction that has him under NCAA investigation.

One possible, if not likely, outcome will be Sorsby petitioning to enter the supplemental draft this summer where teams essentially can bid on his services with one of their 2027 draft picks.

The logistics are simple: Using the 2026 draft order, each team takes turns deciding whether they want to take him in the first round of the supplemental draft, which would cost the equivalent pick in the 2027 regular draft. If every team passes in Round 1, then we move to Round 2 and it keeps going until somebody decides to select Sorby, with another option being that he goes undrafted through seven rounds, at which point he simply would become a free agent.

SIZING UP SORSBY FOR THE DOLPHINS

After not taking a quarterback in the regular draft this year, the Dolphins absolutely stand as one of the teams that could entertain the idea of drafting Sorsby this summer, with the other obvious candidates being the Arizona Cardinals and New York Jets, and maybe the Pittsburgh Steelers as well.

The Dolphins quarterback room currently consists of Willis, 2025 seventh-round pick Quinn Ewers, Las Vegas Raiders 2025 sixth-round pick Cam Miller, and rookie undrafted free agent Mark Gronowski.

New GM Jon-Eric Sullivan and head coach Jeff Hafley are confident that Willis can become the Dolphins' franchise quarterback, which is why they gave him $45 million guaranteed over the next two years, but the fact he has six career starts in four years makes him an unknown commodity at this time.

And this is where the idea of adding a talented young prospect at the position would make sense.

It didn't happen in the regular 2026 draft, in part because the Dolphins had so many needs throughout the roster to address, though Sullivan said it a consideration over the three days of the draft.

"It came up a couple times throughout the course of the weekend," Sullivan said at the conclusion of the draft. "We felt like the better option was the other pick. Just a chance for a guy to get on the field and help us this year with where we are as a roster, but the conversation happened multiple times. I'm certainly not backing off what I said initially. We will take a quarterback every year, every other year when we have the opportunity, but just the way that it fell this year and part of that is we like our room.

"We’re happy with Malik, Quinn is doing a good job and will continue to do a good job. And we like our No. 3 as well. So we're in good shape there. Just the way the board fell, it just didn't work out this year, but we'll take one next year, if not the year after that.”

WHAT'S THE RIGHT PRICE FOR SORSBY?

Taking Sorsby in the supplemental draft would be just like taking a quarterback next year, with the bonus of being able to work with him a year early.

From that standpoint, adding Sorsby, a 6-3 dual threat who some analysts project as a potential high first-round pick would make sense.

But at what cost?

As mentioned, Sorsby very well might have been (or still might be) a first-round pick in the 2027 draft, but it's debatable whether he would be that right now.

And the Dolphins also have to be honest with themselves about their prospects for the 2026 season and the possibility their 2027 draft could wind up being a pretty early on, in which case they likely would be able to take a highly ranked quarterback if they felt the need to — here's that word again — supplement what they have in the position room.

It says here using a first-round supplemental pick on Sorsby should be off the table.

And while we're here, we'd also probably not go with a second-round supplemental pick because it could end up being a high second-rounder, which almost is like a first-round pick.

So the point here where we'd feel comfortable with using a supplemental pick would be the third round, even though there would be a chance he'd be gone by then. To that, we would say, oh well, too bad.

Yes, there's an argument to be made for the Dolphins taking any shot they can at finding their long-term quarterback, but the price has to be right because, again, there are still other needs to address.

The Dolphins have been down the supplemental draft before — and it didn't work out very well.

This happened in 2005 when the Dolphins used a fifth-round pick to select defensive tackle Manuel Wright out of USC and his brief NFL career will be remembered for TV shots showing him crying after then-head coach Nick Saban berated him for being out shape.

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