Should the Kansas City Chiefs be concerned about Eric Berry’s injury history?
By Kody Latham
Eric Berry has had his fair share of injuries over the years. Should the Chiefs be worried about how he will play in the upcoming season?
Whenever people talk about the Chiefs they tend to have a hard time being able to do so without also bringing up Eric Berry. There is a good reason for that seeing as he is one of the best defensive players in the league when he is available.
The key part of that sentence is when he is available. Examining Berry’s time with the Chiefs we can see that it is a career that has been marred with injury issues. Berry has gone through three serious medical issues during his career.
The first was him tearing his ACL during the 2011 season, his second year in the league. The second was his battle with Hodgkin’s lymphoma that we all know very well at this point. The third and his most recent Achilles tear that he suffered after playing a fantastic game against Rob Gronkowski to start off the season.
Berry is 29 and will be turning 30 this season in December. This is not exactly the most ideal situation when Berry does not seem to be the ageless wonder that Charles Woodson was. While the younger guys behind him currently have not proven to be the next man up. Add in the recent release of his former running mate Ron Parker and you have a lot of question marks at the position.
Because of this it is reasonable to believe that Berry has some extra miles on him that you normally would not have with a safety that is his age. Being just one season removed from earning his big money contract has caused some fans to reasonably fear the future with Berry and whether he can stay healthy.
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When you talk about almost any position other than the quarterback the magic number that players drop off at is 30. Granted safety has been a position in the past that players have been able to switch to so that they can continue their careers once they have become too old to play corner. This means that there is hope that Berry could continue to play past the normal barrier for most players.
At this point Berry is a huge unknown because all Achilles injuries affect players differently. We saw Derrick Johnson rebound from his first Achilles injury like nothing happened. When you look at Berry’s career there is some hope that he will be able to be able to stay healthy. After every major injury, Berry has come back and played in all the games his next two seasons. This personally makes me hopeful for Berry’s return.
Looking at the Chiefs moves through out free agency I think we can assume the Chiefs believe that Berry will be back at 100% when the season starts. They have not gone and signed any of the big-time safeties that are currently on the market. Instead they opted to settle for a low-key signing in Robert Golden, a veteran who brings some decent safety play but who is mostly known for his work on special teams. With the NFL draft on the horizon, we may some youth added to the position.