Eric Berry close to long-term deal with Kansas City Chiefs
By John Buhler
The Kansas City Chiefs are reportedly close to putting together a six-year deal worth $78 million to make Eric Berry this highest paid safety in football.
It doesn’t matter how bad the Kansas City Chiefs’ salary cap situation was, they were not going to let their best player walk in unrestricted free agency. While All-Pro free safety Eric Berry could have been slapped with the 2017 franchise tag, it seems that will no longer be the case.
According to the NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, “the Chiefs and [safety] Eric Berry are finalizing a six-year deal with $78 million. It makes him the highest paid safety in the NFL.”
Berry was hit with the franchise tag last year, but to slap a player of his caliber with it for a second year in a row would be insulting to his brand. Kansas City has roughly $4,086,147 to work with in salary cap space, the least amount in the NFL.
Sources: The #Chiefs & S Eric Berry are finalizing a 6-year deal worth $78M. It makes him the highest paid safety in the @NFL. Well-deserved
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) February 28, 2017
To create enough cap space for Berry’s long-term extension, it would have to mean that backup quarterback Nick Foles and popular running back Jamaal Charles will be gone. Foles’ departure seems certain, but Charles could come back if his contract with the Chiefs is restructured.
However, the biggest casualty from the presumed Berry extension would have to be free agent nose tackle Dontari Poe. Like Berry, Poe was hitting unrestricted free agency and potentially worthy of the franchise tag. Now that Berry will command a big pay day, that likely means Poe will be playing for somebody else in 2017.
Teams would love a disruptive Pro Bowl-level nose tackle like Poe in unrestricted free agency. He’ll command top-dollar on the open market. Kansas City does have an immediate replacement for him in defensive tackle Chris Jones.
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Chiefs general manager John Dorsey was in a tough situation with the cap and two players deserving of the franchise tag. Since he couldn’t keep both with a major overhaul of his player’s salaries, he made the right decision to keep Berry in Kansas City long-term.