Nick Sorensen Speaks Out on the Kickoff Changes

In an interview with the Plain Dealer's Tony Grossi, Cleveland Browns special teamer/backup safety Nick Sorensen commented on the changes that were made to kickoffs recently. The rule changes were made to improve player safety, and Sorensen suffered a concussion during a preseason game last year. Was he in favor of the changes? The answer is, "no."

"The biggest collisions you'll see in a game are on kickoffs, which I think are exciting," Sorensen said. "I got knocked out and still don't think it should change. It's football. You're gonna have collisions. That's just part of the deal."

Sorensen commented that he believed the NFL got it right by eliminating four-man wedge blocks a few years ago, but he was fine with the league keeping the two-man wedge block. He also feels that we're going to see many kick returners, including the Browns' Joshua Cribbs, start taking kicks out of the end zone. Sorensen hopes the rule ends up having the desired outcome in terms of reducing player injury, but he doesn't want steps to be taken in ensuing years to the point where kickoffs are basically eliminated:

"If they do that, they might as well just make the entire game two-man touch or flag football," Sorensen said. "If they get to that, my son will be playing flag football. It won't be the same game."

Agreed. It's good to hear another interview from a player on the Browns though, similar to the one Grossi had with Scott Fujita last week. It allows you to forget about the lockout for a second.