Some very interesting information came out on Friday in regards to relations between Eric Berry and the Kansas City Chiefs.
Mike Garofolo of NFL Network is reporting the Chiefs wanted Berry to pay for a disability policy in a long-term contract.
During talks w Eric Berry, Chiefs proposed he pay for a disability policy that named the club as beneficiary, sources say. Later backed off.
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) July 15, 2016
Rand Getlin of NFL Network is reporting that this wasn’t some minor policy, either.
I'm told that policy was roughly $20M, which could have carried a $2M premium, which Berry was expected to pay. https://t.co/Pw80cWiUEw
— Rand Getlin (@RandGetlin) July 15, 2016
As you may know, Berry won his battle with Hodkin’s lymphoma last year, which almost certainly has everything to do with Kansas City’s thinking as it relates to a long-term deal with the safety.
Essentially, if anything were to happen to Berry (disability or death), then the money in the policy would be paid to the Chiefs. Not surprisingly, Berry wasn’t a big fan of that, as is clear by the Chiefs backing away from the idea.
Still, as unsavory as it seems that Kansas City wanted to pursue this angle, it wouldn’t have been unprecedented. Garofolo mentioned in his next tweet that the San Francisco 49ers have “similar policies” with quarterback Colin Kaepernick and offensive tackle Joe Staley.
In the end, given this new information, it’s not at all shocking that there will be no long-term deal for Berry this year with the Chiefs (more on that here).
He had previously stated that he was somewhat surprised that the Chiefs had not moved in his direction on any contract talks near the deadline. One wonders if he will be inclined to try and work things out after the season or if Berry will instead turn his gaze to free agency.