When quarterback Brendan Sorsby hired attorney Jeffrey Kessler in May, the move had a dual purpose. Kessler has, for years, given both the NCAA and the NFL fits in court.
From our initial item regarding the impact of the move on a potential decision to enter the supplemental draft: “That makes Kessler’s presence even more relevant. He also has been a thorn in the NFL’s side for decades, and Kessler could (if Sorsby’s eligibility isn’t restored) attempt to force the NFL to give him immediate entry with a clean slate.”
Per a source with knowledge of the situation, Kessler has already begun to attempt to ensure that the league won’t impose roadblocks on Sorsby’s effort to join the NFL.
The league could try to reject his application for the supplemental draft. The league could try to suspend Sorsby, concocting an outcome rooted in the integrity of the NFL’s gambling policies. When Commissioner Roger Goodell duplicated the five-game suspension that the NCAA had imposed on Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor, a third-round pick of the Raiders in the 2011 supplemental draft, Goodell expressly cited the “integrity of, and public confidence in” the league’s eligibility rules.
Goodell also wrote this at the time, regarding Pryor: “In my judgment, allowing players to secure their own ineligibility for college play in order to avoid previously determined disciplinary consequences for admitted conduct reflects poorly not on college football — which acted to discipline the transgressor — but on the NFL, by making it into a sanctuary where a player cannot only avoid the consequences of his conduct, but be paid for doing so.”
The NFL could apply that same reasoning to Sorsby, under the notion that Sorsby ultimately used the NFL as a “sanctuary where a player cannot only avoid the consequences of his conduct.”
For now, we’re told that multiple teams are concerned that Goodell will impose a significant suspension on Sorsby. Kessler’s job now pivots to trying to keep that from happening.
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