‘His Mindset And His Heart’: Nick Sorensen Makes Pro Bowl Case For Cowboys’ Brevyn Spann-Ford
FRISCO, Texas — The Philadelphia Eagles put two blockers on Brevyn Spann-Ford on kickoffs Monday no matter where the Dallas Cowboys lined him up, and Cowboys special teams coordinator Nick Sorensen said Thursday the tight end is a Pro Bowl player.
Spann-Ford signed with Dallas as an undrafted free agent out of Minnesota in 2024 and made the 53-man roster as a rookie. He is in his third season, listed at 6-foot-7 and 270 pounds.
Other teams single Spann-Ford out on kickoffs because he is productive, plays the right way, and plays violently, in Sorensen’s view. Dallas kept him in a similar spot in its kickoff alignment Monday anyway.
“His mindset and his heart,” Sorensen said. “I mean, the production’s there when you talk about what people see. But I think his mindset is just, it shows on tape. Because even though he was getting, they put an offensive lineman out there on him. I don’t know if you guys saw it. They put two guys on him no matter where he was.”
“I mean, we kept him in a similar spot, but he still finished. He still got an assisted tackle, and he was as far away from the ball a couple times as he could be,” Sorensen continued. “I think it just, want-to shows up on tape. That effort, your violence, that shows up. And I think for him, that’s why he’s getting that type of respect.”
Dallas has kept Spann-Ford on the kickoff coverage unit while he plays tight end on offense. Kickoff coverage, to Sorensen, is the kicker and the 10 men running down the field together.
“I think it’s a combination of everything. Obviously the dirty balls help and how Brandon can place it, not give it away,” Sorensen explained. “But the guys are covering really well. I know Brevyn’s been getting doubled. People are singling him out, which they should, because I think he is a Pro Bowl player and has earned that, because he’s productive and plays the right way and how violent he is.”
“But those other guys pick a guy to double. I mean, they were winning a lot,” Sorensen continued. “Doesn’t mean we’ll do it this week, because Arizona, they’re really good. I have a lot of respect for what Michael Ghobrial’s done. I think he did a good job in New York. I respect the fact that they have good schemes, but the players are tough. And they get in good position with their blocking and how they cover also. So just because we did it good up until this point, we’ve got to do it again.”
Ghobrial ran the New York Giants’ special teams in 2024 and 2025. Arizona Cardinals coach Mike LaFleur hired him in February.
Nick Sorensen On Brandon Aubrey And The Cowboys’ Kickoff Goals
Brandon Aubrey made field goals of 55, 27, and 24 yards Monday. His kickoffs are the part of his job that draws less notice, by Sorensen’s account.
“Really good. It was really good with placement,” Sorensen said. “And like I said, sometimes those, when they hit the ground, you don’t know where it’s going to go. I think the first couple he had good bounces, and then he moved it around. Some got deep but didn’t go quite as far as to the end zone and stuff like that. So I think that’s kind of understated with how he kicks field goals and gets points for us, but those kickoffs, it matters a lot.”
Sorensen grew up watching kickoffs with his father, who made everything a competition. The two would pick out high school starting lineups just by watching warmups at basketball games.
“I think we all love it. I mean, even when I was a kid and I wasn’t even allowed to play football, I loved watching kickoff,” Sorensen said. “Obviously, it was old school. You were kicking from the 30, but I remember watching games with my pops, and we would always pick a guy, who’s going to make the tackle here. We’d always get to pick a dude that we thought was going to make it, and to me it was always so exciting.”
“And I’m glad that we still have kickoff. Obviously, I coach special teams, but just I think it’s like one of the coolest, purest parts of the game,” Sorensen continued. “And it’s violent in the right kind of ways. And I just love when we don’t get solo tackles. To me, this is a lot about the entire coverage unit and the want-to to finish and cap off, just swarm the ball. And that’s what I think has been the coolest part, is it’s not just one guy making the play. It’s usually a couple guys, or if one guy gets doubled, the other guys are gonna make it up.”
“And that’s been a cool part of the unit. They embrace it. They love it, and it’s the first play of our defense. That’s really the most important part,” Sorensen added. “We want to have a better drive start at the end of the game on kickoff than our opponent. That’s one of our goals. Just like we want to have a better net punt than our opponent. Those are two of our main goals that we have each week.”
“That it’s all about how we’re gonna win this game. You can talk about, we’ve talked about season-ending, what puts you in top five, that doesn’t. It’s about how do we help us win the game,” Sorensen noted. “So for us, that’s the first play of our defense, and when those guys are flying around swarming, that energy is contagious.”
Sorensen was the San Francisco 49ers’ defensive coordinator in 2024 before Dallas hired him to coordinate special teams in 2025.
“I try not to. I try to be consistent. I just love football,” Sorensen said. “I played quarterback in college, then I moved to safety. I’ve been on offense, defense. I’ve coached defense and special teams. So at the end of the day, to me, it’s just football and I love it. So I just like the purity of it, to come out and be myself and have fun with it and challenge guys when we need to and just be as real and honest as possible.”
Dallas did not change much about its kickoff coverage coming into this season. The fundamentals stayed the same, and the kickoff rules hold the coverage team in place until the ball hits the ground or is caught.
“We focus a lot on that too, because I think that’s important, because as soon as you can get off the ball when it hits the ground or is caught, we’re dictating the play. Hopefully we’re moving before they are,” Sorensen said. “So I think it starts with that, and we preach that a lot. But after that, there’s only a few ways you can win. You can have twists and picks and stuff, based on who you’re playing. But it’s really just mindset. And our guys have owned it. I give them the credit.”
Sorensen On Tyler Goodson, Ryan Flournoy And The Return Game
KaVontae Turpin was hurt on the opening kickoff of the Oct. 18 loss at Green Bay. Jonathan Mingo and Tyler Goodson handled kickoff returns Monday.
In the second quarter, Goodson went 91 yards for an apparent touchdown. A holding penalty on Justin Barron wiped it out and put Dallas at its own 19.
“I think it’s been solid. Our numbers wouldn’t show it, because they probably dropped a little bit. But you don’t get the holding call, we get a touchdown,” Sorensen said. “I think our guys, when I talked about last week, someone had asked me, well, what do you think we’ve gotten better at? And I think it’s just the players understanding more conceptually of everything. And I think that also carries over to the return game, which means getting in position, body on body, understanding what we’re trying to return it.”
“So I think that, combined with those guys fielding the ball first, because last week, Jake Elliott, ball on the tee tilts it, he was kicking dirty balls too,” Sorensen continued. “So that was a big stress for both Mingo and for Tyler Goodson, was let’s field it first and then let’s go ahead and hit it. And I think they’ve done a good job.”
Dallas has kept Goodson to returning kicks, with several running backs active on game days.
“He can play the coverage units. Just because of how many running backs we have up, like, he could cover,” Sorensen said. “He asks me every week. He’s like, ‘Coach, put me at the five, the four, wherever.’ I mean, a lot of guys ask that because they love it and it’s fun. But he can do it. He does it in practice. He goes 100 miles an hour. He’s the right type of guy.”
“I think he can. For running backs, they should be good at covering kicks,” Sorensen continued. “Just, if that guy’s blocking you, pretend he’s trying to tackle you. Just make a miss and then go tackle the ball. And he’s done that in practice. So I think it’s something he could do.”
Ryan Flournoy has become a regular part of the offense this season and caught passes of 35 and 16 yards from Dak Prescott on Monday. Undrafted rookie Camden Brown played in his first NFL game Monday and got his first reps on kickoff return late, Sorensen said.
“I’ve been nervous at that one for a while,” Sorensen said. “But we usually like the same, the guys that play good are usually good players no matter what they’re doing. Competitors are competitors. Like I said, the mindset shows up. It’s your heart. It’s your brain. That stuff, I think, in the purest form shows up on special teams. And then when you can translate that to your assignments on offense or defense, whatever the position, I think that really, it’s football.”
“No matter what position you are, that shows up. I’m nervous sometimes, but I’ll always fight to keep them on certain ones and spell guys,” Sorensen continued. “But I always lean into Flo, because Flo was really good for us in everything that he did. So I always remind him, like, hey, you’re with us. He comes to the meetings. He’s in there. He’s ready to plug in. He prepares the same every week, but also help the young guys.”
“And he does that on his own, but I always remind him, like, those guys want to hear from you. Help Cam Brown. Give him all the tips,” Sorensen added. “Or even Mingo was in a lot of the positions on punt return that Cam was. Well, now Mingo’s a returner. So I was like, hey, talk to Cam. Give him some of the tips, because I think I learned most of my stuff as a young player from teammates. You do it from coaches, for sure. But you’re in that locker room a lot. You’re in the sauna, whatever. The players teach you, too, because they’re out there.”
Arizona (2-5) visits AT&T Stadium at noon CT Sunday. Dallas is 3-4.
