Eric Berry has been counted out plenty of times throughout his extremely productive NFL career and now, he’s attempting to bounce back from adversity one more time. After suffering a torn Achilles tendon in Week 1 of the 2017 season, Berry has only played three NFL games since then including zero this past season.
Berry was waived by the Kansas City Chiefs following the conclusion of their 2018 season and didn’t play a snap in 2019 after he went unsigned. However, according to NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo, Berry had opportunities to play in the league last season but passed up on those offers to get himself mentally and physically prepared for 2020. Garafolo reports that Berry plans to return to the NFL ahead of next season.
From @gmfb: Former #Chiefs S Eric Berry‘s absence from the #NFL this past season was intentional. He plans to return in 2020. pic.twitter.com/Xd32c8p7fJ
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) January 25, 2020
Still only 31 years old, it certainly wouldn’t be a shock if Eric Berry still had plenty left in the tank, even when considering his lengthy and complicated injury history. Berry tore his ACL in the opening week of his sophomore season in 2011 but bounced back to make his second Pro-Bowl appearance in 2012. The year after, Berry established himself as one of the premier defensive players in the NFL and was named first-team All-Pro.
Things then took a turn for the worse when Berry was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in late 2014, a curable form of cancer that put his NFL career in serious jeopardy. However, Berry bounced back again and was cancer-free by the start of training camp in 2015. Berry took the field in the 2015 NFL season as the same dynamic playmaker he was before the cancer diagnosis, earning first-team All-Pro honors yet again.
Berry would go on to play the next two seasons at an elite level before suffering another injury setback and rupturing his Achilles in 2017. Berry would return for the tail end of the 2018 NFL season, including KC’s AFC Championship game against the New England Patriots, but was waived by the only team he had ever been a member of shortly after the loss.
Now after taking the entire 2019 season off, Berry seems ready to get back to his former electric self. Though Berry may not have a laundry list of suitors like he would’ve had in years prior, some team will certainly give the 5-time Pro-Bowler an opportunity to get back on the gridiron next season.
