Eric Berry, Dan Sorensen and a very concerning safety situation for the Chiefs

The Kansas City Chiefs are one of the heaviest spenders at the safety position and it’s possible that it gets them nowhere in 2018.

Eric Berry missed practice for the second day in a row on Monday. It’s time to pay attention.

In the grand scheme of things, a player missing two days of training camp practice is hardly a big deal. Leon McQuay and Keith Reaser are defensive backs who just returned from longer stints away and no one bats an eye either way. Training camp is tough and physical under Andy Reid, and players will often pull up with injuries as their bodies get ready for the grueling season ahead. Hamstrings are pulled. Ankles are rolled. It’s the reason why teams have a preseason program in the first place.

But for the Chiefs, this particular player with this particular injury at this particular position is troubling. After all, Eric Berry, their star defensive player, has already missed three full seasons in his potentially Canton-worthy career. As inspirational as he is, Berry is also being paid a considerable amount to impact the play on the field for a team that’s been cash-strapped for several years in a row.

Here’s the reality in front of the Chiefs right now: the safety position outside of Eric Berry does not look all that great. Without Berry, which is possible here, the position is a very serious concern.

Last year without Berry, due to a torn Achilles in Week1, there wasn’t a single player who stepped up in the void to be the “next man up.” Remember when Spencer Ware went down last year that Kareem Hunt stepped up in Week 1 and the team was even better for the change. No such thing happened at safety. While Berry is an elite player who is impossible to replace, we all saw the limitations and inconsistencies of Eric Murray, Steven Terrell and Dan Sorensen.

Even though he was still on the field, the Chiefs weren’t even all that enthused with his running mate. Ron Parker was let go despite being healthy and available and under contract, a few things the Chiefs could actually use right now. At $5 million per season, they decided to go cheap and essentially swapped Parker for fourth round choice Armani Watts, hoping one could replace the other for pennies on the dollar.

Outside of the selection of Watts, the Chiefs haven’t done much of anything at the position. They’ve replaced safety/special teams ace Steven Terrell with safety/special teams ace Robert Golden, which Dave Toub might geek out about but that’s it.

The Financial Reality

The Kansas City Chiefs are fourth in overall position spending at safety in 2018, and if the Seattle Seahawks can trade Earl Thomas (which will happen at some point), they will slide up to third. It can be a winning strategy, to be sure, given that the Philadelphia Eagles and New England Patriots are the two teams above the Chiefs at this point. T

But the Chiefs are also doing out serious dollars for a lot of middling play. Dan Sorensen is himself taking up $5.3 milllion of the salary cap, a player at his best in a back-up hybrid role that could potentially be served by a Dorian O’Daniel type. Note: Sorensen is a Top 10 paid player on the Chiefs. A top 10. And even one year from now, that’s going to be true as well. Could you name 10 more talented or impactful Chiefs? Yes. Everyone could.

Given that Sorensen is also out for several (read: at least six) weeks with a tibia fracture and MCL tear only complicates things. It would be an overpay for a player who was healthy, but it’s even worse for an injured player who must now be compensated for.

This doesn’t even count Berry who comes in at $13 million. When he plays, he is worth it. And if he can’t play, that’s no fault of his. Injuries happen in football and some players miss time when others aren’t so lucky. No one wants to be on that field more than Berry and he doesn’t need to explain anything to anyone to the contrary.

All that said, the figure itself needs to be mentioned. Even as the very best in the game, Eric Berry’s contract included an incredible $30 million guaranteed ($29.8M to be specific). The next closest in the game is the $22 million owned to Jamal Adams and Devin McCourty. After that, not a single safety can even claim to reach $20 million in guaranteed money. What’s even more insane is that Berry’s deal is not brand new. It’s a couple years old, but somehow he’s still eclipsing every other safety by a country mile.

The safety market

Here’s what is frustrating in all of this. The Chiefs are paying through the nose for their safeties and it’s possible that, due to injury, they might not be able to play the very guys who are costing them so much. Meanwhile, the safety market is so deflated for reasons beyond anyone’s comprehension:

• Tyrann Mathieu is making only $1.7 million less than Sorensen (and only a 1 year commitment).
• Morgan Burnett got $1M less in guaranteed money over three years than the total money Sorensen will receive this year alone.
• Tre Boston signed for a single year for $1.5 million with the Cardinals.
• Kenny Vaccaro did the same with the Titans.
• Decent options like Mike Mitchell or Tyvon Branch are still waiting on someone to notice.

The options at safety

The fact that Eric Berry’s injury is a heel injury is what has everyone worried. What if Berry has to continue to sit? What will happen then?

Even without going into a worst-case scenario, the Chiefs have a need for a starting free safety here and now. Armani Watts is earning significant reps, but the coaches haven’t been overly positive about the rookie’s performance so far compared to the way they speak of others learning the ropes. In fact, it’s impossible to find anyone at this point talking about Watts as if he’s looking like a Week 1 starter.

If that’s true, is anyone else excited about the possibility of Eric Murray once again being tasked to play so many significant reps? How about your confidence level in Leon McQuay making the leap? Maybe Robert Golden could turn from special teams performer into productive starter, but that’s not a leap he’s made yet and there’s little reason for the Chiefs to count on it.

The bottom line

The bottom line is this: the Chiefs have overpaid on multiple occasions at safety now to the point where they’re in deep as much as nearly any other team in the NFL. For that amount of money, there is a chance that this season’s starters could be Eric Murray and Armani Watts or Leon McQuay and Robert Golden. And that’s the defensive level that comes after such thin cornerbacks.

That is a serious problem. The team is so cash-strapped due to overpaid safeties that they can’t even take advantage of a slew of underpaid options. It’s abysmal. It’s being underwater on a mortgage when all of your friends are getting bargain real estate deals left and right.

There is hope, to be sure, and it’s almost all found in the fact that Eric Berry is not seriously injured as far as anyone knows. Training camp is long and players have time to rest up. A sore heel can be just that and nothing more. The Chiefs should certainly hope so, or this whole thing could go south in the worst way.