Sometimes fans only notice a player like Nick Sorensen when something bad happens, and that's a shame. But while self-described "skinny white guy" is able to go unnoticed among fans, he's a hero to his teammates.
View full sizeThe Browns' Nick Sorensen has made it through nine NFL seasons in part because of his outstanding play on special teams. BEREA, Ohio — Although there were some anxious moments while he lie unconscious on the floor of Ford Field two weeks ago, those who know Nick Sorensen best didn't doubt he would return from one of the most violent collisions seen in a recent Browns game.
Sorensen, you see, is one of the great survivors in the brutal world of the NFL.
Surviving a double head-on collision with two Detroit Lions running full speed on a kickoff in a preseason game seemed the perfect metaphor for Sorensen's career. He's in his 10th NFL season of doing that kind of work, a core player on the club's top-ranked special teams.
And sometimes you only notice a player like him when something bad happens, like in Detroit on Aug. 28. Which is a shame.
"I blend in, which is cool. I like that. I'm a skinny white guy walking around," Sorensen said this week, smiling again after being cleared to rejoin his teammates this week.
Sorensen sometimes finds himself joining anonymous conversations about the team in coffee shops or restaurants. Even after three years on the Browns, he is never recognized out of uniform.
"I can hear what people really think and I can be like an instigator and see how they feel about things," he said. "I've done that many times, my entire career. I don't pretend I'm a fan. I just listen and talk."
He never hears anyone talking about No. 27, Sorensen.
"If anyone mentions my name, I know they must be a true fanatic. They must know everyone on the team if they mention me," he said with a laugh.
But that anonymity does not exist in the Browns' locker room. He is a hero to some teammates.
"He's the inspiration to all of us out there. He's our leader. I know a lot of guys look up to him," linebacker Blake Costanzo said.
"He really has taught me how to be an NFL player, just since the time I got here last year. How he's made it, how he presents himself, how he plays the game. There's no other guy on this team I look up to more than Nick."
Added defensive back Ray Ventrone: "He's a great, great player. Tough kid. Smart player. Obviously, he's a great special teams player."
Sorensen was his high school's best athlete in Vienna, Va. He played quarterback, defensive back, and punted and place-kicked. But in the NFL he is scraggly, 6-3 and 210 pounds. When he collided with onrushing Landon Cohen, who is 6-3 and 300, and Caleb Campbell, 6-2 and 237, his head snapped backward and bounced off the turf.
"He was out, man," Costanzo said. "I've never seen that before, never seen a guy just knocked out. The doctors kept us away. He was out of it for a while."
At the game were Sorensen's parents and wife, Danielle, who is seven months pregnant with the couple's first child. A Browns aide kept them informed of Sorensen's condition as he was taken to a hospital.
Sorensen was released in time to return to Cleveland on the team bus. He suffered concussion symptoms -- severe headache, blurred vision, dizziness -- and was cleared to begin working out again only after the symptoms disappeared for several days.
Sorensen said he doesn't remember the play or lying on the field and has yet to see the collision on video.
"I'm not scared to watch it. I want to watch it," Sorensen said. "It's weird. I went to see it the other day. We had it TiVo'd at the house. We're watching and my wife says, 'It's coming up,' and it just stopped playing five minutes before and then rewound to the beginning."
It's doubtful Sorensen will play in the season opener Sunday in Tampa. But when he returns to the field, he said he won't be gun-shy about throwing around his body on punts and kickoffs like he has for nine NFL seasons.
"He's just wired one way," coach Eric Mangini said. "He's consistent, he's smart, he cares. There are so many things about him that we're going to make sure that when he's back, he's back and he's right. He's going to know that he's right and at that point I fully expect him to play the same way he always played because that's just the type of person that he is."
Sorensen was a special teams captain in Jacksonville before he joined the Browns in 2007. He also played for St. Louis. He routinely leads his team, or is in the top three, in special teams tackles. He said the secret to his survival on special teams is being productive. Physically, somehow he always avoids major injury.
"I've been blessed with good opportunities and good coaches and good teammates and have just been fortunate," he said.
Many of those teammates sought out Sorensen's wife after the game in Detroit.
"She said she could just tell how much they cared," Sorensen said. "That to me meant the most. Because it really does feel like a family with these guys. It's been awesome."