Kansas City Chiefs: Eric Berry should be top name on NFL 100

As the NFL Network continues their countdown of the top 100 players, one name we haven’t heard is Kansas City Chiefs safety Eric Berry. He deserves to be the top name.

Every year, the NFL Network scours the league for opinions on who the best players in the game are. Depending on where your favorite players are ranked, you probably either love this list or think it’s stupid. However, it is still a big honor for a player to be recognized like this by their peers. For Kansas City Chiefs safety Eric Berry, the recognition should put him at the top of the list.

What makes a safety deserving of that top spot? Well first of all, you’re talking about a player who has been named to the Pro Bowl in five of his seven seasons. The only two years he missed were due to health issues. He has also been named a first-team All-Pro three times, including the last two years. That’s an impressive resume.

It’s the last two years though where he has truly emerged as a player to be revered by the rest of the NFL. In 2014 (one of the two years he did not make the Pro Bowl), Eric Berry was diagnosed with Hodgkins lymphoma. His future in football, not to mention his life in general, were very much in question.

Coming Back Berry Strong

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However, Eric Berry did not only recover from his cancer diagnosis, he returned to the field not even a year later. Berry rejoined the Kansas City Chiefs for the 2015 season and had a solid year, earning Pro Bowl and All-Pro honors. The fact that he did this so soon after being diagnosed and treated for cancer is insane. He, deservedly, was named the 2015 Comeback Player of the Year.

Yet Berry was not done. This past season, the superstar safety took his game to the next level and was an absolute force on the field. It is not unfair to attribute the Chiefs victories against the Carolina Panthers and Atlanta Falcons to Eric Berry’s individual efforts.

There was absolutely no doubt that Eric Berry was the best safety in the NFL last year. The fact that this claim can be made and easily defended so soon after he was being treated for cancer is just incredible. The human body isn’t supposed to be able to do that.

That’s why Eric Berry should be named the best player in the NFL. Not because he beat cancer, but because he beat it and came back even stronger than before. Because his level of play is at the

absolute highest levels of the NFL, despite having to go through more than his peers had to.

On top of all that, he’s also just a good human being.

The Kansas City Chiefs feature one of the best rosters in the NFL. Eric Berry is a premier name on that roster. The fact that he has overcome so much and still remains one of the best in the business is worthy of respect. Here’s a chance for his peers to show that respect.