According to Ian Rapoport, the Chiefs are making a change on defense and benching veteran S Daniel Sorensen following a particularly rough outing last week in the loss to the Bills.
His replacement will be former second-round S Juan Thornhill, who will see a much larger role as the starter as Sorensen moves into a reserve role.
Thornhill looked outstanding as a rookie but a torn ACL late in 2019 also bled into his 2020 season which is why he’s been a part-time player recently.
With the Chiefs’ defense, and Sorensen in particular, struggling mightily, though, making a change makes sense.
Thornhill, 25, was taken with the No. 63 overall pick in the second round by the Chiefs out of Virginia in 2018. He is in the final year of a four-year, $4,615,266 rookie contract that included a $1,376,556 signing bonus.
In 2021, Thornhill has appeared in five games for the Chiefs and recorded 11 total tackles, no sacks or interceptions, one forced fumble and one pass defended. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 29 safety out of 84 qualifying players.
Sorensen, 31, wound up signing on with the Chiefs as an undrafted free agent out of Brigham Young back in 2014. He was unfortunately among their final roster cuts during his rookie season, but later signed on to their practice squad.
The Chiefs brought Sorensen back on a one-year, exclusive rights deal for the 2016 season before signing him to a four-year, $16 million contract in 2017.
Sorensen was testing the market again as an unrestricted free agent in 2021 when he signed a guaranteed one-year, $2.46 million deal with the Chiefs.
In 2021, Sorensen has appeared in five games for the Chiefs and recorded 35 total tackles, one sack and one pass defended. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 82 safety out of 84 qualifying players.
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