Kansas City Chiefs safety Eric Berry is not practicing Wednesday, the second day of work as the team prepares to take on the Indianapolis Colts on Saturday afternoon in the AFC’s divisional round.
Berry missed practice on Friday, December 28, before he was eventually held out of the Chiefs’ final game of the season against the Oakland Raiders. Berry practiced limitedly to start this week on Tuesday, which many felt was a good sign, but he could not participate on Wednesday as he deals with his lingering heel injury.
“It’s difficult from the standpoint of he’s a real critical part of our team,” defensive coordinator Bob Sutton said when asked about the uncertainty surrounding the three-time All-Pro. “He’s an outstanding player. He’s one of our true leaders, the guys rally around him, so I think that part is always hard. You get caught up in different things in the season. But also, if you stick back for a second, you say, ‘Man, this is really hard on this guy, too, as a player. This is something he loves to do. He’s been really good at it, and as difficult as it is on us as a defensive unit or us as a team, I think for him, it’s really challenging.’
“So it’s just what it is. There’s not a lot you can do about it, and every week we’ve got our fingers crossed and hope that he can make it back and go. It’s truly—I know you guys get tired of hearing this—it really is a day to day to day thing here right now, the way it’s playing out. You just got to stay in there and go and figure out how to get other guys ready in case he can’t go.”
Berry was originally held out of the Chiefs’ first 13 games with what the team described as a sore heel, though reports, which have never been confirmed (nor denied) said Berry has what is called a “Haglund’s deformity.”
Berry eventually returned to the lineup to play 30 snaps Week 15 against the Los Angeles Chargers and played 69 snaps Week 16 against the Seattle Seahawks before what has appeared to be some sort of setback.
Sutton was asked Wednesday about who would replace Berry and linebacker Dorian O’Daniel, who hasn’t practiced at all this week, if they couldn’t play against the Colts.
Without Berry in a must-win game against the Raiders when it came to playoff home-field advantage, the safety snap count breakdown was as follows: Daniel Sorensen (63), Eric Murray (33), Jordan Lucas (32) and Ron Parker (6).
In the above breakdown, it is important to note that Sorensen and Lucas earned the start. Lucas suffered a stinger, and the Chiefs eventually removed starters in a 35-3 blowout.
It remains to be seen who the Chiefs start against the Colts if Berry cannot play once again.
A note on Dorian O’Daniel
#Chiefs special teams coordinator Dave Toub on LB Dorian O’Daniel, who has missed two practices this week: “He’s a four-phase starter for us. He’s an important guy, so we’re keeping an eye on that one, pretty close.”
“I wouldn’t tell you,” he initially said with a smile. “We have to work guys in, obviously, and just see where guys are. The one good thing is you’re at the point of the season where if you do have to miss some reps and you get better toward to the end of the week, this is probably the time to do it. We just have to kind of roll guys through, which we try to do, anyway, but when you have a guy in question, you have to say, ‘OK,’ because that usually affects somebody else.
“Sometimes that affects special teams ... It’s going to affect Dave (Toub) and what he’s putting together, so you got to kind of stay on top of that as a total staff, too. But we just got to slide and we’ve got some different options, but we kind of have to wait and see where it’s at.” [Reply]
Originally Posted by RealSNR:
Eric Berry already got his fucking money when he was a goddamn rookie. That contract was fucking huge. Then he got cancer and we continued to pay his salary when we didn't have to. It's great that he roared back in his recovery and all, but Dorsey was clearly aware of what cancer does to a body. He wanted to protect the franchise and the business, which he's supposed to do. Unfortunately for him, he decided to do it against a cancer survivor, and that got him fired.
So Berry gets even more money. Lots of it. Guaranteed. He didn't need that 5 year deal. He didn't need ALL of that guaranteed money. But he sure as fuck put up a fuss about it after how he was supposedly mistreated by the franchise. He got it, and then this shit happened to him. His body broke down.
When football (and all sports, really) are such a team game, yeah, you'd like to side with the players, but every time a guy gets paid, it takes away the flexibility to acquire other great players who can help us win more games. Playoff games, specifically. Home playoff games where 90% of the fanbase would mud wrestle their own grandmothers for a home playoff win, particularly against a team that just so happens to wreck their shit in agonizing ways.
And when a guy GOT paid in his rookie deal, and got paid when the team didn't have to, and then threw a tantrum until he got paid again LONGTERM, and when the shit we were afraid of paying him for actually happened, business is handled in this cryptic "day-to-day" way when the defense is absolute fucking dogshit and could (and probably will) cost us a Super Bowl victory...
Well, fans get sick of that shit. At that point, the player who deserved to get paid (even though he already got his money) loses their respect. If he were just on the field but his play quality had gone down a couple notches (like Houston) there wouldn't be the backlash. Instead, we get tweets about his spirit and the same coaches "day to day" line. He didn't play 95% of the fucking season and we were told "day-to-day". And he can't even retire without still fucking us over capwise.
That's how bullshit his contract was. He hung out the franchise who cared for him out to fucking dry. Yeah, the NFL is a business, BUT HE ALREADY GOT HIS FUCKING MONEY. Berry was flat-out vindictive in that contract Clark negotiated.
He's not gonna be back. If he does get this thing fixed and is his old self again, great, but at this point, not even Marcellus is predicting that will happen.
He lost my respect. He's financially comfortable. He's cancer-free. So excuse fucking me for comparing him to a tool or a machine that's just about at the end of its usefulness and needs to be thrown away. But that's basically what his career is now.
Originally Posted by RealSNR:
Eric Berry already got his ****ing money when he was a goddamn rookie. That contract was ****ing huge. Then he got cancer and we continued to pay his salary when we didn't have to. It's great that he roared back in his recovery and all, but Dorsey was clearly aware of what cancer does to a body. He wanted to protect the franchise and the business, which he's supposed to do. Unfortunately for him, he decided to do it against a cancer survivor, and that got him fired.
So Berry gets even more money. Lots of it. Guaranteed. He didn't need that 5 year deal. He didn't need ALL of that guaranteed money. But he sure as **** put up a fuss about it after how he was supposedly mistreated by the franchise. He got it, and then this shit happened to him. His body broke down.
When football (and all sports, really) are such a team game, yeah, you'd like to side with the players, but every time a guy gets paid, it takes away the flexibility to acquire other great players who can help us win more games. Playoff games, specifically. Home playoff games where 90% of the fanbase would mud wrestle their own grandmothers for a home playoff win, particularly against a team that just so happens to wreck their shit in agonizing ways.
And when a guy GOT paid in his rookie deal, and got paid when the team didn't have to, and then threw a tantrum until he got paid again LONGTERM, and when the shit we were afraid of paying him for actually happened, business is handled in this cryptic "day-to-day" way when the defense is absolute ****ing dogshit and could (and probably will) cost us a Super Bowl victory...
Well, fans get sick of that shit. At that point, the player who deserved to get paid (even though he already got his money) loses their respect. If he were just on the field but his play quality had gone down a couple notches (like Houston) there wouldn't be the backlash. Instead, we get tweets about his spirit and the same coaches "day to day" line. He didn't play 95% of the ****ing season and we were told "day-to-day". And he can't even retire without still ****ing us over capwise.
That's how bullshit his contract was. He hung out the franchise who cared for him out to ****ing dry. Yeah, the NFL is a business, BUT HE ALREADY GOT HIS ****ING MONEY. Berry was flat-out vindictive in that contract Clark negotiated.
He's not gonna be back. If he does get this thing fixed and is his old self again, great, but at this point, not even Marcellus is predicting that will happen.
He lost my respect. He's financially comfortable. He's cancer-free. So excuse ****ing me for comparing him to a tool or a machine that's just about at the end of its usefulness and needs to be thrown away. But that's basically what his career is now.
This whole Eric Berry saga should serve as a life -long reminder to Clark, to NEVER AGAIN get involved with any contract negotiations to the same extent he did with Berry. In fact as a reminder, someone needs to tatoo the word HAGLUNDS on his forhead. [Reply]
Originally Posted by TEX:
This whole Eric Berry saga should serve as a life -long reminder to Clark, to NEVER AGAIN get involved with any contract negotiations to the same extent he did with Berry. In fact as a reminder, someone needs to tatoo the word HAGLUNDS on his forhead.
Originally Posted by The Pest:
Did I move the goalposts again?
You must not have because he didn't respond to that one. He'd be all over you if you hadn't made a strong point.
It's not complicated. LDT plays on a unit that can and has replaced him decent enough. Berry plays on a unit that is horrible without him. Shocking that people are more emotional and desperate for Berry to play. Just shocking. Must be a race thing.... [Reply]
Originally Posted by Marcellus:
People keep saying this but had had the surgery he would have missed the season. So what difference does it make?
Hindsight is awesome but the fact is he appeared to be 100% healthy heading into camp. You really blow the guy up for a season ending surgery over a sore heal? How often if ever has that been predicted?
Do you not think had they KNOWN how this was going to play out they would went another direction?
Its a mess, it sucks but given the options Im not sure they did handle it wrong.
Yur right, They handled it the only way they could have. They can not force him to have surgery when it popped up in TC. They all expected it to calm down and he would play. He would show signs of getting better, then pow, it happens, all season long!
Originally Posted by OKchiefs:
None of what you just said discredits what I said. You're the biggest dumbass here. A reasonable player who signed a recordbreaking contract but was unable to perform at all for the life of the contract would agree to an injury settlement. Eric Berry is selfish and isn't a reasonable player. Berry has made roughly $90 million in his career so far and will end up making almost $140 million when it's all said and done despite only being available roughly half the time. A reasonable player would see that their contract is hurting the team and agree to a reduced salary to help the team. Hell, Berry is making more than Tom Brady at this point. Let that sink in.
Honestly. you are acting like the dumbass here
Originally Posted by Marcellus:
What part of his heal wasn't sore going into TC do you not understand?
So he starts getting a sore heal in TC, you think they should have immediately scheduled him for season ending surgery? Seriously?
Bingo, spot on, it's all they could do. The doctors were telling him he would be able to play.
Originally Posted by Iczer:
Had they done their due diligence, I'd say yes.
If he can't practice and it's been shown that time off won't heal it. Then all they've done is wasted precious time to heal and be ready next year.
John Wall has battled this for years supposedly but got to a point where it was too painful and they did surgery immediately. I'd say if Berry can't play, practice without pain... it's time.
Besides, how much can you really expect Berry to make an impact when he's on a snap count and has been out during the most critical times of games. Hasn't played most of the year and is obviously in pain.
It's wasted time either way, they fully expected him to play this year.
Originally Posted by The Pest:
The Chiefs were in a lose lose situation with Berry. Re-sign him and overpay the shit out of him. Or let him walk and get roasted by the fanbase and media for letting a cancer survivor walk.
This ! it is what it is!
Originally Posted by OKchiefs:
Surgery should have been done a year ago while he was rehabbing the other foot. The heel issues are not new to Berry in 2018. He should have had repairs done to both feet. As I mentioned before, Troy Tulowitzki had repairs done on both feet, so don't tell me it's not possible to repair both at the same time.
It can, but he heel was not bothering him during the off season. No need to fix something that didn't need to be fixed at the time.
Do you make care repairs when you don't have any issues with it?
Originally Posted by The Pest:
Dude.....they ****ing tried to get Earl Thomas and he broke his leg. Exactly what else were they going to do? Collins?
Yep, when it was apparent to the FO, they tried to get some help. NYG wanted too much for Collins. They priced him high enough that they figured they will keep him. [Reply]