Tyrann Mathieu’s arrival likely means Eric Berry’s exit
Posted by Mike Florio on March 11, 2019, 11:09 PM EDT
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The Chiefs will be paying $14 million per year over three years to safety Tyrann Mathieu. They also are paying $13 million per year to safety Eric Berry. For now.
The arrival of Mathieu likely means that Berry will be gone, a development that wouldn’t surprise many due to the injuries that have plagued Berry over the past two years. Berry has played in only three games since rupturing an Achilles tendon in Week One of the 2017 season.
Already owed $2.95 million in guaranteed money for 2019, another $7.25 million of Berry’s base salary becomes fully guaranteed on March 15. Which means that, if the Chiefs will be pulling the plug on Berry’s deal, they need to do it sooner than later.
Cutting Berry without a post-June 1 designation would trigger a $14.95 million cap charge for 2019. Of that amount $8 million could be pushed to 2020 by using the post-June 1 designation.
Keeping Berry would result in a cap charge of $16.5 million, and a cash expenditure of $12.5 million. Which makes it very difficult to justify keeping him on the roster, especially with so much invested in Mathieu. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Easy 6:
If recent developments are any indication, Berry will be moving on
The new ideal has no room for that old circus
See, here's the deal:
Spags and his cadre of defensive geniuses could have easily found a role for Berry, Houston, and Ford. It was never a question of fitting the scheme or these guys being so far off the mark that they couldn't be put to work. I don't think good coaches release talented players over scheme or because they aren't "their guys", especially when you have a tight cap.
I think what it was, was taking a look at the tape, looking at practices, and just observing how these three were carrying themselves. And I think that ultimately, they didn't like what they were seeing in conjunction with reports and information they were getting from Reid, the remaining defensive coaches, and the front office.
And I believe that at the end of the day, with the defense being ranked at #31, it was decided that a personnel and culture sweep were going to be far more beneficial both in the short term and in the long term, than trying to make it work with guys that in their opinion weren't getting it done on multiple levels.
Out of all three, I think Ford is young enough that you could probably break his bad habits and coach him up to whatever your particular vision of a pass rush specialist is in this new defense. But of the three, he was the one with the most trade potential, the one that was injured the most per capita, and the least versatile. It was all but written in the stars once he had a good season that he was going on the block. And I hope we get him moved because I don't think he will be mentally strong enough to continue on as a Chief after having been tagged and put out on the market. [Reply]
Keeping Berry would be a mistake. He won't have surgery, probably afraid to do any more to his Achilles and miss another year. His foot isn't any better. He sat the whole season and it didn't heal and won't heal without another procedure
His status hasn't changed, day to day and will play if he feels like it. That's bullshit, save what you can and move on. Its time. [Reply]
