Todd Sauerbrun
Encyclopedia
Todd Scott Sauerbrun (ˈsaʊərbrən; born January 4, 1973 in Setauket, New York) is an American football
punter who is currently a free agent
. He was originally drafted by the Chicago Bears
in the second round of the 1995 NFL Draft
. He played college football
at West Virginia
.
Sauerbrun has also been a member of the Kansas City Chiefs
, Carolina Panthers
, Denver Broncos
, New England Patriots
and the UFL's
Florida Tuskers.
. He attended Ward Melville High School
in East Setauket, New York, and was a letterman in football and lacrosse. In football, as a senior, he averaged 45.1 yards per punt and kicked a field goal of 62 yards on October 27, 1990 (still the New York State high school record). In lacrosse, he was a high school U.S. Lacrosse All-America selection. He still holds the Ward Melville record for leading midfield scorer with 109 goals and 24 assists for 133 points.
, where he set a NCAA record with a 48.4 yard punting average in 1994. He was also named the school’s sixth consensus All-American that season.
56th overall in the 1995 NFL Draft
. He spent five seasons with the Bears, and is ranked second on the team in all-time punting average. He spent the 2000 season with the Kansas City Chiefs
, and was signed by the Carolina Panthers
before the 2001 season.
Sauerbrun achieved both his greatest success and biggest problems while with Carolina. He was picked for the Pro Bowl
to represent the NFC
in the 2002, 2003, and 2004 seasons. Sauerbrun also became the first player from either conference since the AFL-NFL Merger
in 1970 to lead his conference in gross punting average for three consecutive seasons (2001–2003). However, during the 2004 season, the Panthers were riddled with injuries, and at one point, starting placekicker
John Kasay
suffered a leg injury, and the Panthers were forced to use Sauerbrun to replace Kasay. Sauerbrun refused to kick unless he was reimbursed for fines he incurred when he was overweight.
In December 2004, he was charged with driving under the influence
, and he was named in an investigation of steroids
use in the NFL linked to a South Carolina doctor during the 2004 season.
On May 19, 2005, Sauerbrun was traded to the Denver Broncos
for punter Jason Baker and a 7th round draft pick in the 2006 draft. On July 7, 2006, Sauerbrun was suspended for the first four games of the NFL season after testing positive for the banned supplement
ephedra
. On October 17, 2006, the day he was supposed to come back from his suspension, Denver cut him in favor of punter Paul Ernster
.
One of Sauerbrun's most notable NFL career moments occurred during the AFC Divisional Playoffs
on January 14, 2006, when, in a rare move for a team punter, he managed to tackle New England Patriots
returner Ellis Hobbs
after his own kickoff and forced a fumble, which was recovered by teammate Cecil Sapp
. This eventually led to a Broncos field goal, which helped Denver defeat the Patriots 27-13, ending New England's bid for an unprecedented three consecutive Super Bowl
victories.
Sauerbrun was signed by the Patriots on December 22, 2006 to a one year contract that gave them the right to match any contract he signed the next offseason.
On April 3, 2007, the Denver Broncos
signed Sauerbrun to a one-year contract. However, a week later, the Patriots announced their decision to match Denver's offer to Sauerbrun. Shortly thereafter, the NFL Players Association filed a grievance on behalf of Sauerbrun regarding the details of the contract he signed with New England in 2006. On April 18, 2007, it was announced that Sauerbrun would once again be a free agent. Sauerbrun re-signed with the Denver Broncos on April 19, 2007.
Prior to facing the Chicago Bears
, Sauerbrun stated that he would kick to Devin Hester
, who was well-known for his success as a kick
and punt returner
. Sauerbrun stated, "We're going after it. We're not going to kick away from him. Hey, we respect him and he's the best, but we have guys on our coverage teams that are paid to make big tackles." Hester responded by returning both a punt and kick-off for touchdowns. Sauerbrun attempted to tackle Hester on both returns, but failed. Later in the game, Sauerbrun had a punt blocked by Charles Tillman
while attempting to kick away from Hester..
On December 18, 2007, the Denver Broncos released Sauerbrun for a second time after he was arrested by Denver police during an altercation with a taxi driver.
Sauerbrun was signed by the Florida Tuskers of the United Football League on September 9, 2009.
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
punter who is currently a free agent
Free agent
In professional sports, a free agent is a player whose contract with a team has expired and who is thus eligible to sign with another club or franchise....
. He was originally drafted by the Chicago Bears
Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
in the second round of the 1995 NFL Draft
1995 NFL Draft
The 1995 NFL Draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 22–23, 1995 at the Paramount Theatre at Madison Square Garden in New York City...
. He played college football
College football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...
at West Virginia
West Virginia Mountaineers football
The West Virginia Mountaineers football team represents West Virginia University in the NCAA FBS division of college football. Dana Holgorsen is the team's 33rd head coach. He has held the position since he was promoted in June 2011 after the resignation of Bill Stewart. The Mountaineers play their...
.
Sauerbrun has also been a member of the Kansas City Chiefs
Kansas City Chiefs
The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. They are a member of the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Originally named the Dallas Texans, the club was founded by Lamar Hunt in 1960 as a...
, Carolina Panthers
Carolina Panthers
The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. They are currently members of the South Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Panthers, along with the Jacksonville Jaguars, joined the NFL as expansion...
, Denver Broncos
Denver Broncos
The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver, Colorado. They are currently members of the West Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
, New England Patriots
New England Patriots
The New England Patriots, commonly called the "Pats", are a professional football team based in the Greater Boston area, playing their home games in the town of Foxborough, Massachusetts at Gillette Stadium. The team is part of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National...
and the UFL's
United Football League
United Football League may refer to:*United Football League , an association football league in the Philippines.*United Football League , an American football league which operated from 1961 to 1964...
Florida Tuskers.
Early years
Sauerbrun grew up in Setauket on Long IslandLong Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
. He attended Ward Melville High School
Ward Melville High School
Ward Melville High School is a public high school in the Three Village Central School District of Suffolk County, New York on Long Island, serving grades ten through twelve. It is fed by the two junior high schools in the district: Paul J...
in East Setauket, New York, and was a letterman in football and lacrosse. In football, as a senior, he averaged 45.1 yards per punt and kicked a field goal of 62 yards on October 27, 1990 (still the New York State high school record). In lacrosse, he was a high school U.S. Lacrosse All-America selection. He still holds the Ward Melville record for leading midfield scorer with 109 goals and 24 assists for 133 points.
College career
Sauerbrun played punter at West Virginia UniversityWest Virginia University
West Virginia University is a public research university in Morgantown, West Virginia, USA. Other campuses include: West Virginia University at Parkersburg in Parkersburg; West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Montgomery; Potomac State College of West Virginia University in Keyser;...
, where he set a NCAA record with a 48.4 yard punting average in 1994. He was also named the school’s sixth consensus All-American that season.
Professional career
He was drafted by the Chicago BearsChicago Bears
The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
56th overall in the 1995 NFL Draft
1995 NFL Draft
The 1995 NFL Draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 22–23, 1995 at the Paramount Theatre at Madison Square Garden in New York City...
. He spent five seasons with the Bears, and is ranked second on the team in all-time punting average. He spent the 2000 season with the Kansas City Chiefs
Kansas City Chiefs
The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. They are a member of the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Originally named the Dallas Texans, the club was founded by Lamar Hunt in 1960 as a...
, and was signed by the Carolina Panthers
Carolina Panthers
The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. They are currently members of the South Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Panthers, along with the Jacksonville Jaguars, joined the NFL as expansion...
before the 2001 season.
Sauerbrun achieved both his greatest success and biggest problems while with Carolina. He was picked for the Pro Bowl
Pro Bowl
In professional American football, the Pro Bowl is the all-star game of the National Football League . Since the merger with the rival American Football League in 1970, it has been officially called the AFC–NFC Pro Bowl, matching the top players in the American Football Conference against those...
to represent the NFC
National Football Conference
The National Football Conference is one of the two conferences of the National Football League . This conference and its counterpart, the American Football Conference , currently contain 16 teams each, making up the 32 teams of the NFL.-Current teams:Since 2002, the NFC has comprised 16 teams,...
in the 2002, 2003, and 2004 seasons. Sauerbrun also became the first player from either conference since the AFL-NFL Merger
AFL-NFL Merger
The AFL–NFL merger of 1970 was the merger of the two major professional American football leagues in the United States at the time: the National Football League and the American Football League...
in 1970 to lead his conference in gross punting average for three consecutive seasons (2001–2003). However, during the 2004 season, the Panthers were riddled with injuries, and at one point, starting placekicker
Placekicker
Placekicker, or simply kicker , is the title of the player in American and Canadian football who is responsible for the kicking duties of field goals, extra points...
John Kasay
John Kasay
John David Kasay is an American football kicker for the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks in the fourth round of the 1991 NFL Draft. He played college football at Georgia...
suffered a leg injury, and the Panthers were forced to use Sauerbrun to replace Kasay. Sauerbrun refused to kick unless he was reimbursed for fines he incurred when he was overweight.
In December 2004, he was charged with driving under the influence
Driving under the influence
Driving under the influence is the act of driving a motor vehicle with blood levels of alcohol in excess of a legal limit...
, and he was named in an investigation of steroids
Anabolic steroid
Anabolic steroids, technically known as anabolic-androgen steroids or colloquially simply as "steroids", are drugs that mimic the effects of testosterone and dihydrotestosterone in the body. They increase protein synthesis within cells, which results in the buildup of cellular tissue ,...
use in the NFL linked to a South Carolina doctor during the 2004 season.
On May 19, 2005, Sauerbrun was traded to the Denver Broncos
Denver Broncos
The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver, Colorado. They are currently members of the West Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
for punter Jason Baker and a 7th round draft pick in the 2006 draft. On July 7, 2006, Sauerbrun was suspended for the first four games of the NFL season after testing positive for the banned supplement
Dietary supplement
A dietary supplement, also known as food supplement or nutritional supplement, is a preparation intended to supplement the diet and provide nutrients, such as vitamins, minerals, fiber, fatty acids, or amino acids, that may be missing or may not be consumed in sufficient quantities in a person's diet...
ephedra
Ephedra
Ephedra refers to the plant Ephedra sinica. E. sinica, known in Chinese as ma huang , has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for 5,000 years for the treatment of asthma and hay fever, as well as for the common cold...
. On October 17, 2006, the day he was supposed to come back from his suspension, Denver cut him in favor of punter Paul Ernster
Paul Ernster
Paul T. Ernster is an American football punter who is currently a free agent. He was drafted by the Denver Broncos in the seventh round of the 2005 NFL Draft...
.
One of Sauerbrun's most notable NFL career moments occurred during the AFC Divisional Playoffs
NFL playoffs, 2005-06
The National Football League playoffs for the 2005 season began on January 7, 2006 and led up to Super Bowl XL on February 5, 2006 at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan....
on January 14, 2006, when, in a rare move for a team punter, he managed to tackle New England Patriots
New England Patriots
The New England Patriots, commonly called the "Pats", are a professional football team based in the Greater Boston area, playing their home games in the town of Foxborough, Massachusetts at Gillette Stadium. The team is part of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National...
returner Ellis Hobbs
Ellis Hobbs
Ellis Hobbs III is a former American football cornerback who played for six seasons in the National Football League. He played college football for Iowa State. He was drafted by the New England Patriots in the third round of the 2005 NFL Draft and played for them from 2005–2008...
after his own kickoff and forced a fumble, which was recovered by teammate Cecil Sapp
Cecil Sapp
Cecil Sapp is an American football fullback who is currently a free agent. He was signed by the Denver Broncos as an undrafted free agent in 2003. He played college football at Colorado State....
. This eventually led to a Broncos field goal, which helped Denver defeat the Patriots 27-13, ending New England's bid for an unprecedented three consecutive Super Bowl
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League , the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather...
victories.
Sauerbrun was signed by the Patriots on December 22, 2006 to a one year contract that gave them the right to match any contract he signed the next offseason.
On April 3, 2007, the Denver Broncos
Denver Broncos
The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver, Colorado. They are currently members of the West Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
signed Sauerbrun to a one-year contract. However, a week later, the Patriots announced their decision to match Denver's offer to Sauerbrun. Shortly thereafter, the NFL Players Association filed a grievance on behalf of Sauerbrun regarding the details of the contract he signed with New England in 2006. On April 18, 2007, it was announced that Sauerbrun would once again be a free agent. Sauerbrun re-signed with the Denver Broncos on April 19, 2007.
Prior to facing the Chicago Bears
Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
, Sauerbrun stated that he would kick to Devin Hester
Devin Hester
Devin Hester is an American football wide receiver and return specialist for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League . He played college football at the University of Miami, where he became the first person in the university’s recent history to play in all three phases of American football...
, who was well-known for his success as a kick
Kick returner
In American and Canadian football, a kick returner is the player on special teams who is primarily responsible to catch kickoffs and attempts to return them in the opposite direction. If the ball is kicked into his own endzone, he must assess the situation on the field while the ball is in the...
and punt returner
Punt returner
Punt returner is a position on special teams in American football.-Description:The role of a punt returner is to catch the ball after it is punted and to give his team good field position by returning it. Before catching the punted ball, the returner must assess the situation on the field while...
. Sauerbrun stated, "We're going after it. We're not going to kick away from him. Hey, we respect him and he's the best, but we have guys on our coverage teams that are paid to make big tackles." Hester responded by returning both a punt and kick-off for touchdowns. Sauerbrun attempted to tackle Hester on both returns, but failed. Later in the game, Sauerbrun had a punt blocked by Charles Tillman
Charles Tillman
Charles "Peanut" Tillman is an American football cornerback for the Chicago Bears of the NFL. He was selected with the 35th overall pick of the 2003 NFL Draft.-Early years:...
while attempting to kick away from Hester..
On December 18, 2007, the Denver Broncos released Sauerbrun for a second time after he was arrested by Denver police during an altercation with a taxi driver.
Sauerbrun was signed by the Florida Tuskers of the United Football League on September 9, 2009.