Todd Scott Sauerbrun (; born January 4, 1973) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player who was a punter in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL) for 13 seasons. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

West Virginia Mountaineers The West Virginia Mountaineers are the athletic teams that represent West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia. The school is a member of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I. The Mountaineers have been a membe ...

, and was recognized as a unanimous All-American in 1994. He was drafted by the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...

in the second round of the

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 ...

, and also played for the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) West division. Established in 1959 ...

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The t ...

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC West, West division. The team is headquartered in E ...

and

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. The Patriots compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The Pa ...

of the NFL, and the

Florida Tuskers Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

of the United Football League (UFL).

Early life

Sauerbrun was born and raised on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

, in

Setauket, New York Setauket is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the Town of Brookhaven, Suffolk County, New York, United States, on the North Shore of Long Island. As of the 2010 United States census, the CDP population, which at the time included ...

. He attended Ward Melville High School in East Setauket, 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 attended West Virginia University, where he was a punter for the

West Virginia Mountaineers football The West Virginia Mountaineers football team represents West Virginia University (WVU) in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of college football. West Virginia plays its home games at Milan Puskar Stadium on the campus of West V ...

team from 1991 to 1994. He was a first-team All-

Big East Conference The Big East Conference (stylized as BIG EAST) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference that competes in National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA NCAA Division I, Division I in 10 men's sports and 12 women's sports. H ...

selection in 1992, 1993, and 1994, and an honorable mention All-American in 1992 and 1993. As a senior in 1994, he set an NCAA record with a 48.4-yard punting average, and was recognized as a consensus first-team All-American.

Professional career

He was drafted by the

56th overall in the

. He spent five seasons with the Bears, and is ranked second on the team in all-time punting average. Sauerbraun tore his ACL in the third game of the 1998 season and missed the rest of the year. He was injured after a Tampa Bay Buccaneers player landed on his leg after a punt that drew a roughing the punter penalty. He spent the 2000 season with the

, and was signed by the

before the 2001 season. Sauerbrun achieved both his greatest success and biggest problems while with Carolina. He was picked for the

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (since 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's All-star, star players. The format has changed ...

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 In gridiron football, the placekicker (PK), or simply kicker (K), is the player responsible for attempts at scoring Field goal (football), field goals and extra points. In most cases, the placekicker also serves as the team's kickoff specialist ...

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 Driving under the influence (DUI) is the crime of driving, operating, or being in control of a vehicle while one is impaired from doing so safely by the effect of either alcohol (drug), alcohol (see drunk driving) or some other drug, whether re ...

, and he was named in an investigation of

steroids A steroid is an organic compound with four fused rings (designated A, B, C, and D) arranged in a specific molecular configuration. Steroids have two principal biological functions: as important components of cell membranes that alter mem ...

use in the NFL linked to a South Carolina doctor during the 2004 season. 's NFL off-season, Todd Sauerbrun held at least 10 Panthers franchise records, including: * Punts: season (104 in 2002), game (11 on 2002-12-22 CHI), playoff season (21 in 2003), playoff game (7 on 2004-02-01; with 2 others) * Punt Yards: season (4,735 in 2002), playoff season (910 in 2003) * Yards / Punt: career (45.54), playoffs (43.33), playoff season (43.33 in 2003), playoff game (48.4 on 2004-01-03 DAL) On May 19, 2005, Sauerbrun was traded to the

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 dietary 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

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 three consecutive

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual History of the NFL championship, league championship game of the National Football League (NFL) of the United States. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966 NFL season, 1966 (with the excep ...

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

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

, Sauerbrun stated that he would kick to Devin Hester, who was well known for his success as a

kick A kick is a physical strike using the leg, in unison usually with an area of the knee or lower using the foot, heel, tibia (shin), ball of the foot, blade of the foot, toes or knee (the latter is also known as a knee strike). This type of ...

and

punt returner A return specialist or kick returner is a player on the special teams unit of a gridiron football team who specializes in returning punt (gridiron football), punts and kickoff (gridiron football), kickoffs. There are few players who are exclusivel ...

. 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.Seligman, Andrew
Chicago 37, Denver 34, OT
(November 25, 2007), Yahoo! Sports. Retrieved on December 24, 2007. 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.

Keith Olbermann Keith Theodore Olbermann (born January 27, 1959) is an American sports and political commentator and writer. Olbermann spent the first 20 years of his career in sports journalism. He was a sports correspondent for CNN and for local TV and ra ...

, a commentator and anchor for

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

, awarded Sauerbrun with his dubious "Worst Person in the NFL Award", for challenging Hester and failing to stop him. 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

of the United Football League on September 9, 2009.

NFL career statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

References

External links

New England Patriots bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sauerbrun, Todd 1973 births Living people All-American college football players American football punters Carolina Panthers players Chicago Bears players Denver Broncos players Florida Tuskers players Kansas City Chiefs players National Conference Pro Bowl players New England Patriots players People from Long Island Ward Melville High School alumni West Virginia Mountaineers football players People from Setauket, New York Sportspeople from Brookhaven, New York Players of American football from Suffolk County, New York People from East Setauket, New York