Daniel Sorensen ready for his chance with Chiefs thin at safety

The Chiefs’ safeties, an overall strength last season, have taken plenty of hits the last few months.

Start with the free-agent departure of Tyvon Branch, a reserve a year ago who played in the Chiefs’ nickel and dime personnel groups. Veteran Husain Abdullah, an understated leader with versatility, retired, and star Eric Berry has skipped the last two months as he waits on a new contract.

That has left the Chiefs with only one of their top four safeties, versatile star Ron Parker, throughout offseason workouts. Third-year pro Daniel Sorensen is also trying to fill the need at the position and also at the Chiefs’ key nickel linebacker spot.

“Yeah, you know, every rep that you get is a benefit, and it’s just an opportunity to get better and hone in on your technique,” Sorensen said. “So yeah, I’m taking advantage of some of those extra reps I’m getting now.”

Not that Berry’s presence — he skipped the first minicamp practice Tuesday and is expected to miss the next two — isn’t missed.

“Yeah, he’s been our leader, and set a standard for practice and for our meeting rooms,” Sorensen said. “That’s something that we carry on. We talk about a culture, and he’s somebody that you can look to who establishes a culture in the secondary. That aspect is very present.”

The Chiefs have long liked Sorensen, 6 feet 2 and 208 pounds, because of his size and versatility, with the latter a key in today’s pass-oriented style of football. Chiefs coach Andy Reid called Sorensen a linebacker/safety hybrid last December and a “pretty good tackler.”

That has allowed Sorensen, the primary starter at safety next to Ron Parker over the last month, to occasionally shift down into the box as a nickel linebacker next to Derrick Johnson.

“You learn a lot — he’s a talented, talented player,” Sorensen said of the 33-year-old Johnson, who is coming off his fourth Pro Bowl selection. “He’s been doing it for a long time and he’s really good at it. It’s been fun to learn from him.”

 

Sorensen made 23 tackles and one sack in 240 defensive snaps (according to Pro Football Focus) last season, earning time because of injuries to other players, and he continues to get comfortable with 330-pound offensive linemen coming his way on running plays.

“I mean, it’s just like any other read on the field,” Sorensen said. “It just takes reps and practice at it.”

But how does he decide whether to take on the block, like a traditional linebacker, or slide under or around the block, like Johnson.

“It’s situation-based, so it could be any of those scenarios,” Sorensen said. “It just depends on the situation.”

The Chiefs have preferred having a safety line up as a linebacker against three- and four-wide receiver sets because of pass coverage.

“I know it’s (a) big position for our defense, and a lot of the things that we do,” Sorensen said.

Three years ago, Berry handled most of those duties, while Abdullah had been the primary guy there.

But with those two absent, it’s fallen on Sorensen to handle those duties and serve as a veteran presence for the host of youngsters in the Chiefs’ secondary.

“Yeah, it has been different,” he said. “I was the guy trying to learn from some of these older guys, Husain and Tyvon Branch, and (now) it’s our responsibility to pass along the things that we’ve learned and how we run things.”

But Sorensen said the rookie group — which includes three drafted cornerbacks and five undrafted defensive backs — is doing well.

“I think we’ve got a lot of young players in the room, and bringing them along has probably been the biggest thing that we’ve accomplished,” Sorensen said. “We lost some key veterans from last year that had a lot of experience, so it’s now just catching those guys up to the level we played at last year, which was a very high level.”

The Chiefs ranked seventh in the NFL in pass defense and second with 22 interceptions a year ago, and Sorensen doesn’t want them to take a step back.

“That’s the standard,” he said, “which is to bring some of these younger guys up, myself included, to be at that level.”

This story was originally published June 14, 2016 at 5:15 PM with the headline "Daniel Sorensen ready for his chance with Chiefs thin at safety."