Craig Curtis Sauer (born December 13, 1972) is a former professional

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, ...

who played in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

. He played for the Atlanta Falcons (1996–1999) and

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansi ...

(2000). His father was a professional minor league baseball player and he has three brothers who have played professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

Football career

Sauer played college football at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...

. He was selected in the sixth round (188th overall pick) of the 1996 NFL Draft by the Atlanta Falcons. He ended up playing more NFL games than all but 12 of the 87 players taken in the last two rounds of that year's draft. As a

rookie A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year). In contrast with a veteran who has experience and expertise, a rookie is usually inexperienced ...

in 1996, Sauer played in all 16 games for the Falcons, but only started one. He had seven

tackles Tackle may refer to: * In football: ** Tackle (football move), a play in various forms of football ** Tackle (gridiron football position), a position in American football and Canadian football ** Dump tackle, a forceful move in rugby of picking u ...

, four assists and one forced fumble that season. In 1997, he once again played in all 16 games and started one. He had eight tackles, one assist and one fumble recovery for the season. In 1998, he played all 16 games again, and started six, primarily at right

, as the Falcons went on to win the National Football Conference championship and play in the Super Bowl. He set a career high with 29 tackles, and also had five assists and his only career

interception In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team ...

, and got to play in

Super Bowl XXXIII Super Bowl XXXIII was an American football game played between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Denver Broncos (who were also defending their Super Bowl XXXII championship) and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Atlan ...

. In 1999, he again played all 16 games for the Falcons, starting three. He had 18 tackles, six assists and his only career sack. Sauer joined the

for the 2000 season. In what would be his final NFL season, he played in nine games for the Vikings. He did not start any games, and had only one tackle for the season.

Family

Sauer's father, Curt Sauer was a minor league

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

player in the Minnesota Twins system. Three of his brothers, Kent, Kurt and Michael have played professional

. Kent Sauer was a 4th round draft pick by the

Nashville Predators The Nashville Predators (commonly referred to as the Preds) are a professional ice hockey team based in Nashville, Tennessee. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and ha ...

in 1998, but his professional career was derailed by a knee injury. Kurt was a

defenseman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the latter a reference to ...

who played for three different

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

franchises., while Michael was a defenseman for the National Hockey League's

New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home ...

. Both brothers had their careers end prematurely as a result of concussions.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sauer, Craig 1973 births Living people People from Sartell, Minnesota Players of American football from Minnesota American football linebackers Minnesota Golden Gophers football players Atlanta Falcons players Minnesota Vikings players