Kansas City Chiefs: The ugly situation with Eric Berry

Kansas City Chiefs all-pro safety Eric Berry is one of the franchise’s most polarizing players, but the last few years are starting sour his relationship with the team and its fans.

After signing that ridiculous, six-year $78 million dollar contract at the start of 2017, the Kansas City Chiefs have seen little to no return in their high dollar investment since. In order to fully paint the picture of how this situation is starting to become ugly, we need to rewind the clock just a bit.

Going back to 2010, the Chiefs drafted Eric Berry out of Tennessee with the fifth overall pick.

At that time, there wasn’t a rookie salary cap put in place yet and the Chiefs were prepared to make him the highest paid player at safety in league history. Berry signed a six-year, $60 million contract that included $34 million in guarantees. He had never even played a single snap in the league.

It paid off though, as Berry would go on to be the NFL’s Defensive Rookie of the Year, being the first Chiefs player to earn the honor since the late Derrick Thomas.

After missing the 2011 season to an ACL injury in week one, Berry would go on to have a two year stretch from 2012-13 that would include two Pro-Bowl nods and his first All-Pro selection in 2013.

In October of 2014, Berry was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a type of cancer that found the-then 26 year old in the fight of his life. After months of chemo therapy and a ridiculous work out routine, Berry found himself on the field for training camp in August of 2015. He would go on to win the NFL’s comeback player of the year and earn his second All-Pro selection.

It is truly one of the most inspiring stories in NFL history and made Berry a Kansas City legend to never be forgotten.