On this episode of the Roughing the Kicker Chiefs podcast, Joshua Brisco takes a look at Eric Berry’s remarkable recovery, breaks down how the Chiefs can replace Dontari Poe while he is out with his back injury, discusses Jamaal Charles’ statement comparing himself to LeBron James and dives into many other observations from Chiefs training camp.
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Eric Berry’s incredible victory over Hodgkin’s lymphoma absolutely shocked me when I first heard the news of his return to the Kansas City Chiefs. Ever since his diagnosis roughly nine months ago, I assumed that Berry would miss the remainder of the 2014 season and either the vast majority or the entirety of 2015. It felt like many fans who were speculating on his return date were missing something. Berry had cancer. You can’t out-rehab cancer. I feared that we may have very well seen the end of Berry’s career as a relevant football player. Cancer. Besides the huge amount of time and effort that it takes to fight it, even if Berry were to become cancer-free more quickly than expected, it felt unfair to assume that he would need anything less than a full season to get from a post-chemotherapy body to an athlete’s body and then to an NFL strong safety’s body. But Eric Berry and the doctors and trainers around him produced a truly incredible timeline.
Before news broke of Dontari Poe’s back injury, I had already been working on a story about the importance of finding Poe’s backup. Poe has led the NFL’s interior defensive linemen in snap counts for the last two seasons; injury or consistent wear and tear seemed inevitable. On the show, I re-hash the timeline of Poe’s injury and surgery, look at the current favorite to step into his empty shoes, discuss alternative ways to cover Poe’s absence and offer one new name to keep an eye on from outside of Kansas City.
Also on this episode, a look at the passing game that the Chiefs have been working on through camp so far, a discussion around Jamaal Charles’ self-comparison to LeBron James, and much more out of Chiefs training camp and around the NFL.
If you’re going to training camp: Tweet me @jbbrisco with your observations and things you want to have brought up on the show. I want to collect as many viewpoints as possible for next week!
Have ideas or questions for next week’s episode? Tweet @jbbrisco or comment here on AA and tell me what you want to talk about. Subscribe to RTK on iTunes and never miss an episode.
Roughing the Kicker is a Kansas City Chiefs podcast on Arrowhead Addict Radio. RTK is about the Chiefs and the NFL through the eyes of Chiefs fans. Music by Baby Spaceman.