When Is It Time To Panic About Eric Berry?

The Chiefs and Buccaneers completed an exchanged today that sent guard Rishaw Johnson to Tampa Bay for safety Kelcie McCray. On the surface the move is minor and sends a guy who was on the verge of getting cut to another team while adding some depth to a depleted secondary.

But this trade cannot be viewed in a vacuum for this news is also true.

Another week of missed practices almost assuredly means Berry will miss Saturday’s game against the Minnesota Vikings, his third consecutive inactive game. Add in the lack of practice time and we have to start wondering whether or not Berry is going to be ready to open the season against Tennessee.

Good news is there is a lot of time between now and September 7th when the Chiefs will kickoff the regular season at Arrowhead for Berry to recover. But will 18 days be enough for Berry to get his heel healthy and get his body ready to play four quarters of football?

The Chiefs are going to need him for four quarters and they are going to need him immediately. Throw aside the fact the secondary looks lost through two preseason games and consider the Chiefs have games against Denver, New England, San Francisco and San Diego in the first seven weeks of the season. Kansas City doesn’t have a lot of time for Berry to get in shape, he has to hit the ground running.

So what does this trade today say about how the Chiefs feel about Berry’s foot? Kansas City needed depth at safety no matter if Berry was healthy or not, and the cornerback situation only makes the safety depth even more important. This makes it difficult to get a clear idea of if the Chiefs are concerned Berry will not be able to start the season.

But it is ominous that the Chiefs would make this move on the same day Berry completes a full week without practicing before the team’s ‘most important’ preseason game.