Chiefs rumors: How much will it take to keep Eric Berry?
By John McCarty
A.) That’s a bunch of money. Simply put, that’s a contract that would put Berry on par with some of the upper echelon of cornerbacks in the league. Make no mistake about it, Berry being the highest paid safety isn’t a bad thing, but eventually, there’s a point where you have to walk away.
B.) Kansas City has a tough salary cap situation in the next couple years that makes a Berry extension tough. Yes, the Chiefs can easily fit Berry into the 2017 roster by having a low cap number, but that means his future cap numbers will look exceptionally large to compensate for the 17 number. Dorsey and company have a history of guaranteed years on contracts as opposed to large bonuses (e.g. Eric Fisher, Justin Houston, Alex Smith, Mitchell Schwartz). While you may see a really low number in 2017, you may be talking about a safety getting close to the 20 million cap number in 2018 and likely at or above in 2019.
C.) Doing a deal with Eric Berry complicates their situation with Alex Smith and others. Do you want the Chiefs to re-do the contract of Alex Smith, that would yes, lower his cap number, but would in essence guarantee he’s the Chiefs quarterback for the next couple seasons? We all saw how not up to the task Smith was in the playoff game against the Steelers and their awful pass defense. Combine that when a player signs a large contract, and usually you have to play cheaper elsewhere.
Does a Berry deal make it more difficult to keep, say, Dee Ford, Dustin Colquitt (interesting situation with him that bears watching), Ron Parker or even a Jeremy Maclin? Can this team win with Berry getting paid a ton and Alex Smith as your quarterback? Remains to be seen, but the early returns are not promising.
D.) When does this team go from promising to old? In the NFL, rarely does a player or team age as a group gracefully. As we’ve seen far too many times, a prime year today becomes old and slow tomorrow. If the Chiefs continue to hand out big contracts, and kick the can down the road on aging players, they will reach a point of critical mass.
The worst case scenario becomes similar to what the Raiders went through a few years ago, taking your lumps on the field because of excessive dead money on aging and ineffective football talent. The first signs of such are already showing in the awful Tamba Hali deal that is, to a certain degree, hindering the Chiefs movements as they will have a good amount of defensive cap space taken up by a player who, as was plain to see, really isn’t effective anymore.
E.) It’s the Chiefs, not Eric Berry, that can’t afford to go into the 2017 season with their safety on a franchise tag. Kansas City certainly won’t use a franchise tag on Berry after the 2017 season, and Berry and his representatives certainly know this. Do the Chiefs really go two years with Berry on a franchise tag only to lose him for nothing? While we certainly all want and hope a deal can get done, if March 9th hits on the calendar and there is no deal in sight, the Chiefs need to let it be known a trade is certainly an option. Trading Berry isn’t ideal, but it’s an issue that can be overcome.
While I certainly want and hope the Chiefs are able to keep Berry, there comes a time, like everything in life, where the cost is just prohibitive. Perhaps, and this is something that can backfire, the team could use a transition tag as opposed to a franchise tag for Berry. While the price tag money wise is the same on Berry, it is far more restrictive in negotiations then a franchise tag is. Let the league dictate Berry’s value to Berry. It would be beneficial for the Chiefs to have the situation resolved by the time the draft rolls around.