Getty

Brendan Sorsby #2 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders draw interest from the Cowboys.

It’s not that the Dallas Cowboys are entirely unaware of the fact that quarterback Dak Prescott is 32 years old, or of the fact that he has been prone to injury–and that the Cowboys have suffered as a result. It was only in 2024 when Prescott suffered a disastrous torn hamstring that put him out for nine weeks and helped fuel a 7-10 campaign for Dallas. The issue with finding and keeping a quality backup for Prescott, and maybe someone the Cowboys would hang onto until he was ready to start, is that Prescott just keeps looking so good when he does play.

It happened again last year, when he threw for 4,552 yards, third in the NFL. while also leading the league in completions (404) and finishing fourth with 30 touchdowns. The Cowboys have had Trey Lance on board, but gave up on developing him into an eventual starter, and had Joe Milton around last season–they could give up on him, too, if Sam Howell wins the backup job.

So there isn’t much appetite, or reason, for the Cowboys to invest heavily in a long-term quarterback project behind Prescott, who could conceivably be the starter under center for another five or six years. Except that there may be a worthwhile loophole this summer, involving Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby.

Brendan Sorsby Has Admitted Gambling Issue

Sorsby’s situation is one the Cowboys could find worth monitoring. It figures to be a tricky one, but the basics are that it’s been revealed that, in four years of college at Cincinnati and Indiana, Sorsby was found to have placed 1,000s of bets on a variety of sports–including on college football, and including on the Hoosiers when he was in Bloomington. He transferred to Texas Tech before that news came out, and has checked into a rehab center, with his collegiate career in jeopardy.

There is a widespread belief that Tech could pull out of Sorsby’s NIL deal, said to be worth around $6 million, and that the NCAA could suspend him for the year, or life. That would likely ignite a lawsuit, but it would also open a path for Sorsby to enter his name in the 2026 supplemental draft in July. He would have until June 30 to enter and once he did, teams would bid 2027 draft picks to sign Sorsby.

So the Cowboys could bid a 2027 second-rounder or so for the rights to Sorsby, and if that was found to be the best bid, they’d get the player.

Cowboys Should Throw a Draft Pick at Brendan Sorsby

But … should the Cowboys do that? There is risk to pursuing Sorsby. But if Dallas is a good team this year and still wants to consider the future, getting Sorsby now would be ideal.

As SI.com NFL insider Albert Breer noted in an mailbag answer this week: “There’s also the other piece of this: Prescott will turn 34 next summer, has been banged up, and the time could be coming to put an heir apparent into the pipeline. If you’re Dallas, would you throw a second- or third-round supplemental pick out there this summer for Brendan Sorsby, should he declare? It’s worth thinking about, anyway.”

Cowboys Must Answer the Big Question: Can He Play?

Of course, the big question around Sorsby, for the Cowboys or for anyone, is whether he can play. The hurdles with a potential suspension and concerns about his gambling issue are obviously paramount, but this only takes on an NFL dimension if, indeed, he is a legitimate NFL player. The hope was that, after his transfer to Texas Tech, he would clearly show he is an NFL-level passer, but without a season’s worth of evidence, he becomes that much more of a risk.

Todd McShay, the draft guru for The Ringer, had a good way of thinking about where Sorsby stands here in May of 2026, hoping he can play college football next season.

Said McShay, “Sorsby is to me is a young man who is attempting to major in pocket passing. But I would give him a C grade in that, he is a C student in his major. But he is double minoring and is, I don’t know, dean’s list material in his two minors, and those minors are scrambling to extend and the creativity part of it, and he is an A student, brilliant in that minor. And his other minor is as a running threat, whether it is designed runs or taking off and exposing—this is the thing I think he does beautifully—you try to play man-to-man against this son of a gun and good luck.

“C student in his major, but dean’s list in his two minors. But in that major, the pocket passing, my goodness, he has a lot of potential.”