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Brendan Sorsby #2 of the Cincinnati Bearcats has been linked to the Cleveland Browns.

The basics on the Cleveland Browns‘ quarterback situation are pretty well known, even across the NFL but certainly in Northeast Ohio, where fans and observers watched the team do as much as it could to bolster the situation for the team’s quarterback, but did little to actually get a better quarterback on the field for 2026. That’s why the Browns are left with one of the least appetizing quarterback choices in the 32 QB rooms across the NFL. It’s either Deshaun Watson coming off two Achilles tendon surgeries, or Shedeur Sanders coming off a season in which he was rated No. 38 among 38 quarterbacks for performance in 2025.

But on Wednesday, as the situation around Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby was digested and considered, the Browns were increasingly linked to Sorsby, at least through speculation. He is in rehab for  a gambling addiction, and faces NCAA suspension because among the 1,000s of bets he was found to have places, some were on his own team, the Indiana Hoosiers, where he began his collegiate career.

If he is suspended from the NCAA, he could find himself in the NFL’s rarely used supplemental draft, where the Browns can make a bid for Sorsby.

‘Putting in Work’ on Brendan Sorsby

But would the Browns do so? Sorsby was very good at Cincinnati last season, throwing for 2,800 yards in 12 games last year, with 27 touchdowns and five interceptions. He would represent a back-door path to a franchise quarterback, and considering the level of trouble the browns have had on getting a QB into the front door, maybe it’s worth it.

According to a report from Tony Grossi of ESPN Cleveland, “The Browns are among the teams putting in work on Sorsby, per a source.” Todd McShay of The Ringer suggested the Browns (with the Jets and Dolphins) could also make a play on him.  And on Thursday, Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com suggested the Browns could bid a second-round pick for Sorsby.

Browns Not Interested in Brendan Sorsby

Ah, but here comes the national guy to negate all of the local Browns reporting. According to Peter Schrager of NFL Media, there is no interest on the Browns part in Sorsby.

Speaking on “The Pat McAfee Show,” Schrager said. “This is an interesting deal because there will be interest in him in the supplemental draft—you don’t see the supplemental draft utilized too often, especially for a quarterback. There will be interest. As far as the Browns go, I would take the meme of the dog with the laser, just looking around. That’s Browns fans any time a quarterback that can even throw a ball, that is how they act as far as that.

“I am told Sorsby’s name has not even been brought up, I am told they are focused on what they have in-house at the moment, and that’s a Deshaun Watson revival, that is a, Shedeur Sanders, can you do it again, can you get back on this field and win this job. They are so ecstatic about their draft this past week that I don’t know if Sorsby being dropped into it is a legitimate thing right now. We’ll see.”

Browns Must Answer the Big Question: Can He Play?

Of course, the big question around Sorsby, for the Cleveland Browns 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.”