The Kansas City Chiefs confirmed the worst: S Eric Berry ruptured his Achilles’ tendon and is out for the year. Andy Reid made the official announcement on a conference call with reporters today. There is no corresponding move yet but Reid talked for a few minutes about what they do from here.
“You’re not gonna replace Eric Berry with another Eric Berry,” Reid told reporters on Friday. “That’s not what happens. But we’ve obviously got some guys here between (Eric) Murray and (Daniel) Sorensen that we know can play and we feel very comfortable with.”
The Chiefs like Sorensen as that third safety and sometimes playing near the line as a linebacker. So maybe second year safety Eric Murray could be more of the true replacement for Berry. We’ll see how the Chiefs handle it.
“The Eric Berrys only come around once in a while and he’s a heck of a player,” Reid continued. “Listen, he had an opportunity to talk to the team last night after the game and I know he would be very disappointed if anyone hung their head or let that be an issue. I thought the guys handled that very well even after Eric got hurt. I felt like after some of these injuries that we’ve had like that there has been a drop off but our guys were able to muster up and keep the emotional football part of it and focus and crank a little bit. Most of all the guys know that Eric would be disappointed if they let off the accelerator there.”
Remember when Berry left that 2014 game against the Raiders? It was completely deflating and that was the only year they missed the playoffs. This is big. The Chiefs have some horses back there to compete but they’ll also be looking out on the street for other options.
“(Brett Veach is) keeping his eyes open for things right now,” Reid said. “That’s what he does. He’s always on top of that. He and (director of player personnel Mike) Borgonzi are seeing the different options there.”
This is a weird day. You’re so excited after such a massive win over New England but you’re also nervous as hell because you know what Berry means to this team.