Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson violated the NFL's personal conduct policy in 2022. The league reached a mutual agreement and decided to suspend and fine him. NFL Network's insider Tom Pelissero argued that college football needs a similar disciplinary structure.

"This all happens because the NCAA, unlike the NFL, has just not had a history of willing to reach a settlement. Most of the suspensions that occur in the NFL now are a product of negotiations," Pelissero said on the Rich Eisen show.

Former Texas Tech QB Brendan Sorsby was declared ineligible to play for the 2026 season due to his admissions about gambling. He went on to challenge it and received an injunction in his favor.

"When Deshaun Watson eventually served, I believe it was an 11-game suspension that had been in the courts that had gone back and forth. He's going to get six games. No, we want him to serve a year. You find somewhere in the middle, and you meet because it's just not worth it to keep playing that thing out," Pelissero slammed the NCAA.

The judicial ruling sparked massive outrage across college athletics, leading programs like Georgia and Nebraska to announce boycotts against Texas Tech, while the Big 12 filed a federal lawsuit to block him from taking the field.

When Watson was suspended for 11 games and fined $5 million in a settlement in 2022, initially, league Commissioner Roger Goodell wanted him to be suspended for at least a year.

Pelissero explained that this legal gridlock wouldn't occur if college football had a centralized, collectively bargained structure like the NFL, where league-mandated discipline is final and binding.

The NFL insider also brought up Ezekiel Elliott's 2017 case. He said he covered that one across three federal courts in three states while the timeline kept shifting through appeals.

Pelissero made clear he is not calling Sorsby a victim. He said Sorsby placed the bets knowingly, even though it eventually turned into what Sorsby and his doctors have called a gambling addiction.

That said, Sorsby has now filed the paperwork for the NFL Supplemental Draft and is in talks to be a highly coveted target who could command a premium draft pick.

NFL Scouts Project Brendan Sorsby as Top Supplemental Draft Pick

Four league executives spoke to reporters about Sorsby's situation. All four believe he gets picked if the NFL allows him into the supplemental draft.

Where he lands is still unclear. Two evaluators see him going late in the first round or early in the second. A third sees him sliding to the third round because of the gambling risk attached to his name.

"Evaluator said their team graded Sorsby as worth a third- to fourth-round pick in the 2026 draft, slotting behind third-round Steelers pick Drew Allar and fourth-round New York Jets pick Cade Klubnik. But that evaluator believed the stronger 2027 class would drop Sorsby's value to a fifth- to seventh-round pick," Senior reporter Jori of Yahoo Sports reported June 16.

Another executive said the bets themselves probably will not scare teams off. The bigger question will be what Sorsby has in place to make sure it does not happen again.

"My sense is the bets themselves weren't anything teams will be concerned about," a high-ranking AFC executive told Yahoo Sports in late May. "But the real question will be, what does he have in place to make sure this doesn't pop up again in his career for something like an MMA, college football or NBA bet?

Sorsby threw for 5,613 yards and 45 touchdowns across two seasons at Cincinnati, plus 1,027 rushing yards and 18 scores.

What do you think about how the NFL and NCAA are handling situations like this? Let us know in the comments.

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Written by

Farheen Fathima

Edited by

Shubhi Rathore