Kansas City Chiefs will have to make tough decision regarding Eric Berry

Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid spoke with the media at the NFL’s scouting combine in Indianapolis. Reid spoke about a lot of things, but one of the main story lines coming from it is the status of his all-pro safety, Eric Berry.

According to multiple reports dating back to October, Eric Berry has been suffering from what’s known as a Haglund’s Deformity, a bone spur on the heel of his foot that required surgery for a torn Achilles tendon back in 2017. Neither Berry or the Kansas City Chiefs have confirmed or denied the report, but speculation has been running rampant since the offseason began about the superstar’s health status and if he will require surgery.

On Wednesday, Coach Reid confirmed that Berry will not receive surgery after getting multiple opinions on the matter.

Terez Paylor, formerly of The Kansas City Star, and current Yahoo! Sports writer confirmed that Berry has seen multiple specialist’s on the matter.

Last month I wrote a piece discussing the status of Berry and where his future might be headed in Kansas City. The situation has been growing quite ugly and leaving a bad impression on what has been otherwise a very positive career with the Chiefs.

Berry signed a ridiculous six-year $78 million contract at the start of 2017 and the Chiefs have received little to no return on the investment. With the news of Berry not requiring the surgery, the Chiefs now have options moving forward, however tough they might be.

Had he failed his physical come March 15th, the third day of the league’s new season, Berry’s contract would’ve been fully guaranteed, forcing the Chiefs to hold onto him and his ridiculous cap number for at least one more season. Now we know that most likely won’t be the case, the Chiefs can designate him as a post June 1st cut, saving $9.55 million against the cap this season, via Spotrac.

The Chiefs would then carry $6.95 million in dead cap space this year with $8 million worth of dead money in 2020.

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Again, this is all assuming that he passes that physical on March 15th.

The Chiefs are reaching a point where they’re strapped for cash and have big contract extensions coming up for Tyreek Hill and Chris Jones. I don’t think you will hear much argument from Chiefs fans about how important it is to get their deals done as soon as possible.

There is no denying that Eric Berry means a lot to the franchise and to the city, but the Kansas City Chiefs were the number one seed in the AFC without him. They also had one of the worst defenses in the NFL and need to get younger and more reliable, especially on the back end.

With free agents like Landon Collins and Earl Thomas potentially hitting the market, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Chiefs in the sweepstakes for one of them and then move on from Berry and his cap number come June 1st.

Brett Veach is entering a huge offseason in so many ways, starting with tough decisions on players like Justin Houston and Eric Berry. The business side of football is always tough, but ridding yourself of aging players and ugly contracts a year early rather than late is more beneficial to the franchise moving forward.

If the Chiefs do decide to keep Berry, the hope is that he can get back to All-Pro form under new defensive coordinator, Steve Spagnuolo. If not, it will be a hard but necessary goodbye to a legend.

This offseason is shaping up to be a wild ride.