Tag: daniel sorensen

Chiefs to bench Daniel Sorensen, start Juan Thornhill in Week 6

The #Chiefs are making a change at the free safety position on Sunday according to a new report.

The Kansas City Chiefs are finally making a change at the free safety position according to a new report.

Eighth-year veteran Daniel Sorensen is heading to the bench in Week 6, yielding starting snaps to third-year man Juan Thornhill per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport. Steve Spagnuolo hinted this change might be coming during his press conference earlier in the week, defending Sorensen in the same breath.

Sorensen has played nearly 100% of the Chiefs’ defensive snaps on the year, starting in each of the first five games at the free safety position. Through those first five games, Sorensen’s play has been severely lacking. Not only does the former undrafted free agent out of BYU lead the league in missed tackles with 12, but he leads his position group in passer rating allowed with 153.8. Last week, Sorensen surrendered two explosive plays in coverage against the Bills on Sunday night, including a 53-yard touchdown to Dawson Knox.

The Chiefs really had no choice but to make a change here. Fans have been calling for it from the beginning of the season and it has only been worse as Sorensen’s performance has declined. This change won’t cure their defensive ailments, but after the 2-3 start it was clear that a change was necessary, and that it couldn’t hurt.

A second-round draft pick in 2019, the 26-year-old Thornhill should have been starting in the first place. Thornhill unseated Sorensen as a rookie, but his late-season knee injury in 2019 seemed to have set him back a long way. He was never 100% in his return from the injury in 2020. The coaching staff insisted that earlier this season he was still working through some mental things related to his late-season knee injury. Now, he’s going to get the chance to prove that he’s all the way back, potentially providing a boost to a defensive unit that desperately needs it.

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Chiefs fan launches GoFundMe campaign to buy out S Daniel Sorensen’s contract

#ChiefsKingdom was fed up with Daniel Sorensen after the Week 5 loss to the #Bills. Now, one #Chiefs fan is taking matters into his own hands. | from @TheJohnDillon

While the Kansas City Chiefs have one of the most loyal and rabid fanbases in the NFL, their followers aren’t always the most sensitive when the team starts losing games. A 2-3 record after five weeks has Chiefs fans taking matters into their own hands with a player whose performance has been substandard. A GoFundMe campaign was created this week with the goal of covering the remainder of safety Daniel Sorenson’s contract as a bargaining chip to get him off the roster and out of the starting lineup.

The veteran defensive back has had an awful start to his 2021 campaign, still missing more tackles than any defender in the league with 12, and playing coverage so loose it practically begs for quarterbacks to rip him to shreds every Sunday. Football may be a team sport, but Sorenson’s failings on-field have cost the team more than just their pride. He has managed to singlehandedly castrate the defense’s ability to employ effective coverage downfield or even slow opponents’ progress with any kind of consistency while playing virtually every defensive snap for the Chiefs through five games.

Meanwhile, 2019 second-round pick Juan Thornhill, the presumable long-term replacement for Sorenson, has sat. The coaching staff insists that this is due to the veteran having a better training camp and that the younger talent is still working his way back from a knee injury sustained late in his rookie season.

The buck seems to have come to a full stop for Sorenson after another pitiful performance against Buffalo, at least for the fans, as the newly organized fundraiser clearly demonstrates. Their lofty $2,462,000 goal might be just a bit out of reach, and with a total of about $85.00 raised since the listing was posted, indications are only a vocal minority is prepared to put their money where their mouths are.

Regardless of the outcome on GoFundMe, this movement is unlikely to change the front office’s mind about cutting Sorenson. It would cost the team about $1.25 million in new money against the cap, as well as a $2.46 million penalty in dead cap space. The Chiefs are unlikely to consider this feasible given they only have about $1.7 million in cap space available per the NFLPA’s public salary cap report. Knowing that their effort will likely fail, the GoFundMe’s organizer claims the money raised will be donated to the 15 and the Mahomies foundation.

Either way, Kansas City’s issues at the safety position will remain dire, even if the fundraiser accomplishes its mission to get Sorenson out of the equation. The Chiefs’ defense ranks at or near the bottom in virtually every relevant defensive statistical category, and it’ll take more than a better effort out of Sorenson, or Thornhill for that matter, to fix the systemic issues the unit faces.

Sorenson may be a convenient scapegoat for the time being, but defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo will need players up and down the roster to contribute more in order to get the Chiefs back on track.

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Film study: Why is the Chiefs’ defense an abject disaster?

Touchdown Wire’s Laurie Fitzpatrick breaks down the film to determine what is ailing the once-proud Chiefs defense.

The Kansas City Chiefs have reached back-to-back Super Bowls and began the season as the odds-on favorite to make it three in a row.

That’s understandable, considering all the firepower the Chiefs bring to the table offensively with talents such as Patrick Mahomes, Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce.

However, most observers didn’t expect to see the Chiefs’ steep regression on the defensive side of the ball this season.

The Chiefs defense has allowed at least 29 points in all five games. They have one of the worst run defenses in the league, allowing an average of 141 yards per game — which ranks 29th. When it comes to defensive pressure, the Chiefs have the fewest sacks in the NFL with seven, and they’re ranked last in the league in pass rush by Pro Football Focus.

The Chiefs simply aren’t tackling well, and safety Daniel Sorensen leads the league in missed tackles with eight. Kansas City is allowing averages of 7.1 yards per play and 3.3 points per drive. They’re allowing the opposition to score a touchdown on 41.7% of drives.

The rushing defense in particular has struggled, which has led to linebackers overplaying the run in play-action. Along with a non-existent pass rush, that creates a lot of problems.

Let’s examine each of these aspects.

In the run game, the Chiefs allowed eight touchdowns between the tackles, according to Sports Info Solutions, and only the Seahawks and Eagles allowed more rushing yards between the tackles through Week 4. The move of defensive tackle Chris Jones to the outside may account for part of this problem as teams are targeting the A gap more.

Last Sunday night against the Buffalo Bills, on a second-down play, the Chiefs brought pressure to what they thought was a passing play. But the call was a draw run. Instead of penetrating the gap and getting a tackle for loss, Sorensen was caught flat-footed and didn’t wrap up.

Since the Chiefs’ defense was honoring the run so much, the zone-read allowed Bills quarterback Josh Allen to rush for 60 total yards just by reading the linebackers.

With the number of athletic quarterbacks in the NFL, the Chiefs can’t afford to keep overcommitting to the run. Otherwise, these issues will continue to happen week after week.

Play-action is the next area in which the Chiefs defense is getting beaten. Once defenders realize the running back isn’t getting the handoff, Kansas City’s defense overcompensates and drops back too far into coverage — leaving the middle of the field wide open.

When it comes to bringing pressure, the Chiefs just aren’t getting the job done. Against the Bills, defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo finally brought more pressure in the fourth quarter, but by then it was too late.

The absence of pass rush wasn’t the only issue, though. A lack of innovation seems to be a problem as well, as the Chiefs weren’t even using stunts. In the clip below, they just run straight at the quarterback.

Allen had all day to throw. But what is especially concerning is that in the broadcast angle of the clip, the pass-rushers actually pull up and stop rushing completely, allowing Allen to find Stefon Diggs wide open downfield. All throughout the game, the Chiefs gave Allen a clean pocket.

Early in the game, the Chiefs needed a stop on third down (below). The defense called no stunts and failed to bring pressure, leaving the defense in man coverage to follow receivers around downfield.

Defenses rely on cohesiveness and the ability to bring pressure up front in order to help the secondary. Stunts from the defensive line and blitzes from the linebackers aren’t the only places where pressure can come from. In Week 4 against the Philadelphia Eagles, cornerback L’Jarius Sneed got a sack from a blitz. The question is: Why don’t they use it more?

The Chiefs lost two defensive starters from last season’s team in free agency, linebacker Damien Wilson and defensive end Tanoh Kpassagnon, and then the injuries to Jones and Charvarious Ward also are having an impact.

When watching this team the past two weeks, there were more than a few snaps where defenders were communicating responsibilities as the quarterback snapped the ball. That being said, it’s difficult to run deceptions when players aren’t even sure of their assignments at the snap.

Tyrann Mathieu, the rare Chiefs defender playing at an above-average level right now, has expressed his frustration in some fairly epic on-field ways — specially when it came to Sorensen and some serious coverage busts.

Not what you want to see, and Mathieu doesn’t need to go quite that live in-game, but he was more eloquent about the defense’s issues after the Bills did what they did.

“You try your best to set a good example,” Mathieu said. “I feel like I can make more plays. Teams aren’t going to let me make certain plays but you have to take the bull by the horns sometimes. For me it is all about continuing to lead these guys the right way. I think my emotion, my spirit, it can go left or right. For me it is important for me to push these guys in a positive direction. I know we still have a good football team. We are struggling right now but, like I mentioned earlier, it’s a long season and I think we will be able to get it right.”

It’s still relatively early in the season. But as of right now, it seems unlikely that the Chiefs will find any impactful free agents off the street to help with depth. It doesn’t seem like the Chiefs are interested, anyway, as they brought in wide receiver Josh Gordon to help on offense instead of a cornerback or defensive tackle.

Still, the Chiefs can boost their chances on defense by bringing more pressure up front and finishing their tackles. But they have a long road ahead if they expect to get back to the Super Bowl.

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Chiefs safety Daniel Sorensen has a “Wanna get away?” first half against Bills

Chiefs safety Daniel Sorensen is not a deep defender. The Chiefs keep treating him as if he is. The results have been sadly predictable.

The Chiefs knew what was coming, and they have been unable to stop it so far. “It,” of course, being the Bills’ passing offense in the first half of their Sunday night tussle. Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen completed seven of 14 passes for 219 yards, two touchdowns, and no interceptions in the first half, and were it not for a few easy drops from his running backs, things could have been even worse for a Chiefs pass defense that has been getting torched all season.

In that first half, the primary issue was safety Daniel Sorensen, a smart, impactful player when he’s asked to roam at the short and intermediate levels. What he’s not built to do is to cover deep, and the Bills took advantage of this schism on their two biggest plays in the first half. First, there was this 61-yard completion to receiver Stefon Diggs with 4:56 left in the first half in which Sorensen was, for whatever reason, assigned to take Diggs up the chute.

The results were less than optimal for the home team.

Sorensen managed to recover to make the tackle and prevent a touchdown, but this coverage was broken before the ball was snapped.

Then, with 1:26 left in the first half, there was this 53-yard touchdown pass to tight end Dawson Knox. Here, Sorensen had Knox through the route — it was a single-high coverage in which a pre-snap two-deep look switched, as safety Juan Thornhill spun to the deep third, and safety Tyrann Mathieu was spying Allen, who’s always a running threat. That left Sorensen as the sole gatekeeper, which… well, you know how that song goes.

Mathieu may need a hug at halftime.

Leading up to the game, Sorensen was quite aware of the communication and schematic issues plaguing the defending AFC champs on that side of the ball.

“Hey, that’s what we’re out here to do,” Sorensen said on Wednesday. “We’re going to go out here today and tomorrow and Friday and put in work and hammer away at it. Each week you expect to improve and that’s what we talk about is chase improvement. So, we’ll identify areas that we need to get better at, and there’s lots of them honestly, and we’ll just keep chipping away at it like we always do and then continue to improve week in and week out.”

The thing is, Sorensen isn’t a great deep coverage guy. Never has been. He’s a good box defender. So, when you’re pointing fingers here, perhaps direct your ire at defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, who keeps putting Sorensen in these situations.

Chiefs S Daniel Sorenson says defense is working to correct miscues ahead of Week 5

Dirty Dan says the #Chiefs’ defense is working hard to correct miscues ahead of their Week 5 matchup with the #Bills. | from @TheJohnDillon

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Not quite the defensive turnaround fans have been waiting for, the Kansas City Chiefs’ last win against Philadelphia was a high-scoring affair that saw the team get back to .500 on their season. There is still work to be done to consistently contain their opponents on Sundays, but the Chiefs’ defense was able to get a few crucial stops that propelled the team to victory in spite of conceding 30 points.

Veteran safety Daniel Sorenson played a big role in stopping the Eagles’ offense in Week 4, recording nine tackles in the game to shut down Jalen Hurts. The shaky start to his season in which he had missed more tackles than any other NFL defender, seems to have given way to the characteristically solid play that has made Sorenson a household name in Kansas City.

Sorensen spoke to reporters before the Chiefs’ practice session on Wednesday, and he told them that the defense’s team-first mentality was a major factor in getting the stops late in the game necessary to beat Philadelphia.

“It’s a collective effort, always,” Sorenson said. “I think we did put some pressure on the quarterback, got him uncomfortable back there, scrambling around. It comes down to mentality. That’s kind of what we’ve been talking about, everybody kind of just baring down and that’s what we were able to do last week.”

Miscommunication on basic defensive alignments and adjustments have plagued Kansas City’s defense in every game this year. It doesn’t bode well for their chances at winning close games against elite opponents in the meat of their schedule. Sorenson allayed concerns that the unit would continue to struggle with the little things, saying they’re still working on that part of their game every day in practice.

“We’re going to go out here today and tomorrow and Friday and put in work and hammer away at it,” He explained when asked about mitigating the miscues. “Each week you expect to improve and that’s what we talk about is chase improvement. So, we’ll identify areas that we need to get better at, and there’s lots of them honestly, and we’ll just keep chipping away at it like we always do and then continue to improve week in and week out.”

Though the defense doesn’t have much more time to fix the problems that should’ve been addressed in training camp, Sorenson made it clear that they’ve got a big test this weekend against the Buffalo. Something of a rivalry has developed between the Bills and Chiefs, with Kansas City coming out on top in two of their last three meetings.

“We got to see them twice last year,” Sorenson told reporters. “[We] got very familiar with their personnel for the most part, same guys. So, a few additions with [Emmanuel] Sanders and things like that. I think we know who they are, and it’ll be a great matchup. We’re excited to compete against them. They’re a great football team. They’re coming into Arrowhead, so it’ll be a fun game. It’ll be really exciting.”

The matchup against Buffalo will be a chance for Kansas City to get back above playing break-even football, but the Bills won’t be an easy team to get a win over on. Another rock-solid performance by Sorenson could prove to be the difference against a potent offense quarterbacked by Josh Allen and headlined by the top-end receiving talent that will need to be shut down if the Chiefs want to come out of the matchup on top.

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Chiefs S Daniel Sorensen leads NFL in missed tackles after Week 2

This isn’t a statistic that you want to see a #Chiefs player leading the NFL in. . .

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The Kansas City Chiefs have a tackling problem and right at the cusp of their problem is veteran DB Daniel Sorensen.

Sorensen has been the only Chiefs defender to play 100% of the defensive snaps for the team in back-to-back weeks. He’s also been good for a clutch play or two in each game so far, which is normal for the eight-year veteran. Still, it’s hard to ignore the glaring issues that he’s had when attempting to make tackles this season.

According to Pro Football Focus, Sorensen leads the NFL in missed tackles with nine missed tackles through the first two weeks of the season. That’s three more missed tackles than the next closest defender and seven more missed tackles than anyone else on the Chiefs.

If Sorensen continues to play 100% of the defensive snaps and miss tackles at his current rate, he’ll have 76 missed tackles at the end of Week 17. To put that number into context, the defender with the most missed tackles in 2020 had 22 missed tackles.

While Sorensen was missing tackles left and right on Sunday, third-year S Juan Thornhill played just 11 defensive snaps against the Baltimore Ravens. Asked about the decision to go with Sorensen over Thornhill, Chiefs HC Andy Reid said he’ll eventually get his chance to play.

 “Juan and Dan (Sorensen), they do certain things the same and a couple of things different,” Reid told reporters on Monday. “It all kind of equals out and Dan really had the better camp and so on. Maybe a little bit more consistency there, but we love Juan and where he’s getting himself back to where he was his rookie year. I don’t want to take anything away from the effort that he’s put forward to do that. They all get a chance to play. I think we’ll take it step-by-step here and can’t have enough of those guys that can play.”

You can rest assured that the opportunity for Thornhill might come sooner than later if Sorensen continues to miss tackles at an excessive rate.

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Daniel Sorensen’s contract with Chiefs will pay $2.4M guaranteed

Sorensen took less than he made last season to re-sign with the Kansas City Chiefs.

The Kansas City Chiefs have wrapped up a deal to bring back safety, special teamer and sub-package linebacker Daniel Sorensen on a one-year deal. His contract appears to be quite the bargain too.

Yesterday, Kansas City Star beat writer Herbie Teope reported that the team was closing in on a deal to re-sign Sorensen for the 2021 NFL season. Today, he reported back that the deal had been agreed upon and he added some important information surrounding Sorensen’s contract details

According to Teope, Sorensen will earn a $2.46 million in 2021, all fully guaranteed. The Athletic’s Nate Taylor confirmed this report shortly after, including the fully guaranteed detail.

Sorensen just finished his second contract in Kansas City, spending a total of nine seasons with the team. He had signed a four-year extension worth $16 million with the Chiefs back in 2016. Since 2018, Sorensen has made at least $3.6 million in guaranteed salary annually. So coming off what was considered to be a career year, Sorensen now will earn considerably less than he did just a season ago.

Perhaps Sorensen’s free agent market in a year with a lesser salary-cap number wasn’t as strong as he’d expected it to be. This could also signal that he wanted to remain with his coaches and teammates in Kansas City. He’s been a vital part in each of the Chiefs’ Super Bowl runs, making key plays in the divisional round of the playoffs against both the Houston Texans and the Cleveland Browns, respectively. Now, he’ll get a chance to contribute toward getting back to a third Super Bowl.

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Daniel Sorensen’s contract with Chiefs will pay $2.4M guaranteed

Sorensen took less than he made last season to re-sign with the Kansas City Chiefs.

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The Kansas City Chiefs have wrapped up a deal to bring back safety, special teamer and sub-package linebacker Daniel Sorensen on a one-year deal. His contract appears to be quite the bargain too.

Yesterday, Kansas City Star beat writer Herbie Teope reported that the team was closing in on a deal to re-sign Sorensen for the 2021 NFL season. Today, he reported back that the deal had been agreed upon and he added some important information surrounding Sorensen’s contract details

According to Teope, Sorensen will earn a $2.46 million in 2021, all fully guaranteed. The Athletic’s Nate Taylor confirmed this report shortly after, including the fully guaranteed detail.

Sorensen just finished his second contract in Kansas City, spending a total of nine seasons with the team. He had signed a four-year extension worth $16 million with the Chiefs back in 2016. Since 2018, Sorensen has made at least $3.6 million in guaranteed salary annually. So coming off what was considered to be a career year, Sorensen now will earn considerably less than he did just a season ago.

Perhaps Sorensen’s free agent market in a year with a lesser salary-cap number wasn’t as strong as he’d expected it to be. This could also signal that he wanted to remain with his coaches and teammates in Kansas City. He’s been a vital part in each of the Chiefs’ Super Bowl runs, making key plays in the divisional round of the playoffs against both the Houston Texans and the Cleveland Browns, respectively. Now, he’ll get a chance to contribute toward getting back to a third Super Bowl.

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Report: Chiefs finalizing deal to re-sign DB Daniel Sorensen

‘Dirty Dan’ is expected back with the Kansas City Chiefs on a one-year deal.

The Kansas City Chiefs continue to make headway in re-signing their own free agents.

According to Kansas City Star beat writer Herbie Teope, the Chiefs are closing in on bringing back defensive back Daniel Sorensen on a one-year deal. The longest-tenured defender in Kansas City, Sorensen joined the team as an undrafted free agent out of Andy Reid’s alma mater, BYU, following the 2014 NFL draft. He’s since worked his way up as a key contributor on defense, as a dime linebacker and safety. He’s also one of the team’s special teams leaders.

Sorensen signed a four-year contract extension worth $16 million with the Chiefs back in 2016. He’s been here for the entirety of his professional career and he looks to extend that by at least one season with his new deal.

An unheralded player, Sorensen is coming off a career season in Kansas City, appearing in 15 games and starting 11. He recorded 91 total tackles, two forced fumbles, two tackles for loss, four quarterback hits, three interceptions, and five passes defended during the regular season. The veteran defensive back is also beloved in the locker room and praised for his work ethic.

It makes a ton of sense for the Chiefs to bring back Sorensen given the free agent market. He knows the system and it’d be hard to replace the amount of snaps that he plays for the team with any one player. He played over 80% of the defensive snaps in 2020 and over 35% of the special teams snaps. He has an uncanny ability to come up with plays at some of the biggest moments, such as his game-saving forced fumble in the AFC divisional-round against the Cleveland Browns.

This also means the team will enter the draft with one less need. That’ll go a long way toward keeping this team at its best next season.

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Chiefs free agent outlook: DB Daniel Sorensen

Replacing Sorensen would be a tough task for Kansas City, so keeping him might be the better option.

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In the aftermath of Super LV, the Kansas City Chiefs will be tasked with building a roster to get them back to the Super Bowl for a third consecutive year. Brett Veach will have a decision to make on a number of unrestricted free agents this offseason, many of whom contributed to the success of this franchise over the past two seasons. One of those players is safety Daniel Sorensen.

Sorensen is the longest-tenured defender in Kansas City, joining the team as an undrafted free agent out of BYU back in 2014. He started off as a special teams player and eventually worked his way up, becoming a rotational piece used in the Chiefs’ defense. Sorensen didn’t earn his first start on defense until the 2016 season. He had a career season that year, with just under 550 defensive snaps.

In 2017, Sorensen signed a four-year contract extension worth $16 million. For the most part, he’s lived up to the contract in terms of production, with seven interceptions, eight passes defended, two forced fumbles, a fumble recovery and 1.5 sacks since he signed his deal. In 2018, Sorensen suffered a leg injury in training camp that hampered his season. He appeared in just seven games, including three starts and was clearly working his way back from the injury when he was on the field.

When Steve Spagnuolo and his staff arrived in 2019, Sorensen was one of the few holdovers from the previous defensive staff. They sought to utilize him in a similar way as Bob Sutton’s staff, as a sub-package defender. He didn’t see quite as many snaps early on because of the breakout of then-rookie Juan Thornhill. With Thornhill recovering from injury this season, Sorensen took on a more prominent role early on, recording the most defensive snaps he’s seen in a single season since 2017.

Chiefs fans have a love-hate relationship with Sorensen. At times, he makes the most clutch, game-saving plays. Look no further than his forced fumble against Cleveland Browns WR Rashard Higgins in the AFC’s divisional round of the playoffs. He really earns his monicker, “Dirty Dan” in those moments. At other times, he has some frustrating missed tackles and is a liability in coverage.

With a truncated salary cap number in 2021, the logical move might be to cut ties with the 31-year-old Sorensen. He’s coming off a year where he matched or exceeded several career statistical totals, which could lead to a big contract in free agency. The problem with cutting ties is that Sorensen is not going to be an easy player to replace.

Sorensen was on the field this year in the team’s base, dime and big nickel packages, playing nearly 85% of the defensive snaps on the year. He also played just under 40% of the team’s snaps on special teams. If the team moves on, some of the slack could be picked up by players on the roster, but it’s hard to imagine a single player replacing him in free agency or the draft. It might take an entire village of players to replace his snaps and his defensive production.

The Chiefs have a few players on the roster who could take a stab at replacing Sorensen, like fourth-year DB Armani Watts or second-year DB Rodney Clemons. Neither player is a clear and given upgrade over Sorensen, though. If the Chiefs can manage to bring back Sorensen without breaking the bank, they should jump at the opportunity to do so. If he has a big market in free agency, they might be forced to watch a homegrown player walk out the door.

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