Multiple NFL teams have asked Eric Berry about a comeback

What if the story of an Eric Berry comeback wasn’t one that was rooted in 2015? What if it was intended for the present in 2021? It would be yet another tremendous chapter in a story that is already one of the single most inspiring and courageous in Kansas City Chiefs history.

It’s also, according to Sam Mellinger of the Star, not that far-fetched.

If it seems as if it’s been some time since you’ve heard a lengthy update on Berry, you’d be right. Berry is a private player and has kept a considerable distance from the team and the sport over the years since he last took the field for the Chiefs in 2018. Even then he wasn’t so connected, given that he played only 2 games in Patrick Mahomes‘ first season under center and only a single game before that in 2017 when Alex Smith was making his farewell tour.

The entire feature is worth a read (as is anything Mellinger-related) for the general update it provides about Berry, but the talking point most interesting for our purposes is tucked in toward the end. It’s there that Berry opens up about a return to football—a move that might be easier to believe in the coaching ranks than anything else. However, it’s clear the conversation was tilted toward a return to the field, to actually suit up and play safety once again after a few years away from the game.

According to a recent interview with the K.C. Star, multiple NFL teams have asked Eric Berry about a comeback.

Before we get into any real analysis of this, you need to read the words for yourself about how the question came up and the context of the information given.

"That’s a lot to unpack, and Berry said that some teams have reached out about playing again. To be sure, any potential employer would have their own questions before offering a contract. Berry says he’s “where I need to be” physically but teams would want to see that for themselves. He turns 33 this month, and hasn’t taken a snap in nearly three full years. It’s been five years since he played more than three games (including the playoffs)."

Mellinger himself serves up the biggest roadblocks to such a move. It seems audacious for someone to make such a return, but in a league where Tim Tebow can get a camp invite at a position where he’s never played, an exemplary performer like Eric Berry certainly merits a long look from a general manager and coaching staff interested in bolstering the secondary.

Remember that all of his final injuries were tied together. The Achilles injury that kept him out of one season turned into a bone spur that affected him the next. Heel problems developed and suddenly Berry was playing only 3 games in two seasons. Given the impact of his contract, it made sense to move on, but if that series of injuries have healed, if that complete problem has gone away, we also likely forget just how dominant Berry was upon his return from Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

There’s no way of knowing at this point if Berry could ever make such a remarkable comeback, but there are potential reasons to believe it’s possible—largely because he was a generational talent at his position before he left the game. Berry was well on his way to induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame when injuries halted his career. Given the credit for short-stint players like Terrell Davis in recent years, it’s not unrealistic to believe Berry makes it in at this point.

Beyond the obvious talent and God-given skill set, Berry has also been away from the game for years—that works in both directions. If he’s rested, if his body has been given a chance to really rebound, then it’s possible to read into that as a positive rather than a negative.

At the very least it sounds as if NFL GMs are aware that Berry was once the best at his position and if there’s a chance of unlocking any of that in the present, then it’s worth the conversation.