Smallish Sims has made big impact

By STEVE DOERSCHUK

The Repository

BEREA

Tightly wired David Sims read Seneca Wallace’s eyes.

He jumped the out route even before the ball was out of Wallace’s hands.

He was going full speed by the first step after his interception.

He ran down the sideline and through a crowd of players who had been watching behind the offensive huddle. Cleveland Browns president Mike Holmgren turned his head to where Sims disappeared off into the distance, and smiled.

It was a training camp play to remember, but Sims wants a lot more than that.

He spent last summer with the team that went on to win the Super Bowl.

The 25-year-old strong safety is grinding through this August with a team that is in an 0-for-46 Super Bowl drought.

He can live with that if the 0-for-46 team lets him stay — and the Browns just might. Sims intercepted two passes in practice Monday, and he has been showing up left and right all month.

When they turned on the lights, he intercepted a pass at Detroit. Then he had a pick-six at Green Bay.

Defensive coordinator Dick Jauron seems to light up when he watches the young man wearing No. 36.

There would be nothing wrong with making the Browns’ final roster, Sims says. Nothing wrong at all.

After all, the Super Bowl winner fired him. Man, did he hate getting fired.

“It hurt me,” Sims said just before lunchtime Monday. “They had me questioning my ability. I know I’m good enough to play.”

Sims’ career with the Giants lasted three preseason games, the last of which was against the Jets on Aug. 29. New York, N.Y. left a bad taste in his mouth when the Giants cut him.

“When I did get in the games, I thought I played very well,” Sims said. “But they drafted a guy, so ...”

If it’s close, the draft pick almost always makes the roster over an undrafted guy.

This was an especially unkind cut, because the drafted rookie, Tyler Sash, had played at Iowa. The undrafted Sims played at Iowa State.

When Sash’s Hawkeyes went against Sims’ Cyclones in 2010, it was a thorough thrashing, Iowa led 35-0 after three quarters. In the head-to-head in Giants camp, though, Sims believed he was the better safety.

After the Giants sent him home to Gainesville, Fla., on Sept. 3, he didn’t even think about trying to get a real job.

‘All I did was train,’ Sims said.

Sims’ height, 5-foot-9, worries scouts. Carrying 210 pounds, he has the squat powerful build of a running back, a position he played in high school and at Butte Community College in California before moving to defense at Iowa State.

The Buccaneers called Sims Halloween week, at which point Sims had been home for nearly two months. He signed with Tampa Bay on a Tuesday. They cut him that Thursday.

It was back home to Gainesville for nearly another month. The Browns called a few days after Thanksgiving, inviting him to the practice squad.