Are the Kansas City Chiefs shelving Eric Berry until the playoffs?

The Kansas City Chiefs has been without its star safety Eric Berry since Week 1 of the 2017 regular season.

Safety Eric Berry has not practiced for the Kansas City Chiefs since August 11th of this year, which means it has been 81 days since we have seen any sort of action from the All-Pro safety. The Chiefs have kept Berry under wraps for most of the season, and fans are anxious and upset after being given little to no information as to his status. After a frustrating two and a half months, however, the situation could be a little better than we thought.

While no playoff run is guaranteed, the Chiefs have perhaps the best shot at getting the top seed in the AFC playoffs than any other team in the conference. Of course, this take is not factual, but after everything we have seen from the 7-1 team, it’s possible they go 7-1 for the remaining 8 games of the season, putting their win-loss total up to 14-2. If they managed to do this, that would guarantee them the No. 1 seed in the American Football Conference, unless the New England Patriots do not lose any more games and finish the season at 14-2 as well.

Nonetheless, the situation is looking up for the Chiefs. They have a stout offense and a defense that is slowly coming together. While it has its issues, as does most of the defenses in the NFL this season, they have stepped up when it matters.

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What if the Chiefs were indeed keeping Berry away from game action to protect his health? Many issues and technicalities could come from this if it is the situation at hand. This situation could be looked at in one of two ways.

On the one hand, keeping one of the highest-paid safeties in the NFL away from game action seems like a terrible idea, at a glance. Chemistry is invaluable, especially in the playoffs. Berry undoubtedly brings a tremendous amount of chemistry and heart to the field. When he’s playing, guys want to swarm around him.

As it looks right now, Berry’s contract is being wasted. The Chiefs will not be moving on from him anytime soon. Keeping Berry until the playoffs would mean that he would more than likely start playing in December to get him in game shape. As you may or may not know, it’s not easy to get yourself in game shape without actually playing, especially when you haven’t played in an NFL game in over a year.

If the Chiefs are indeed benching Berry until the playoffs, it means that the team is doing its best to ensure he stays healthy. I would assume this is because they are certain they are going to make the playoffs, and as such, having Berry play during the regular season would almost be pointless—almost.

The only reason you would want to play Berry is to make sure he’s ready for game action, and to make sure he’s ready for the playoffs. Which, as I explained above, would mean that we would likely see Berry playing in mid-December. While we have a couple months to wait before we will see if this is the case, it is still good news.

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Shelving Berry until the playoffs would be a good idea, in my opinion. It ensures he stays healthy and doesn’t cause any further issues, making his return, and the Chiefs’ playoffs run much better. It appears that the Chiefs, although rather quiet about it during pressers, are adamant that Berry will return sometime this season whether it be in the regular season or postseason. Whether or not Berry’s healthy is a question that’s up in the air, but one we should know very soon.

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