Andy Reid says there’s a ‘chance’ Eric Berry plays on Thursday against Chargers
There’s “a chance” safety Eric Berry makes his season debut Thursday night when the Chiefs play host to the Chargers in a prime-time game, coach Andy Reid said Monday.
Berry, who missed four months of practice nursing a sore heel, has been a limited participant in practice the last two weeks. Prior to that, Berry hadn’t taken the field since Aug. 11 during training camp in St. Joseph. Reid said Berry is continuing to “gradually” get better.
“He was getting better as the week went on,” Reid said of Berry’s progress and availability for Thursday. “We’ll just see how it goes here these next couple of days. There’s a chance.
“I’m literally going to keep taking this day-by-day. We’ll just see how the thing goes. It’s nothing effort-wise or want-to. That’s the last thing that ever crosses your mind with this guy. It’s killing him. You’ve got to trust me. It’s killing him not to be out there. But at the same time, we want to be smart with it. I know he’d like to play.”
During the broadcast of Sunday’s game, a 27-24 overtime victory against Baltimore, it was reported that Berry’s heel issue was a matter of pain tolerance. Reid said there’s more to it than just that.
“This guy’s pain threshold is way up there,” Reid said. “I don’t know. I think it’s a feel also, how everything feels. I think progressively, it’s gotten better. I think with any injury, there’s pain, right? That’s part of that. It’s also how it feels to the athlete, which is important in this case.”
Reid didn’t have any other injury updates Monday. Tackle Cam Erving left Sunday’s game because of a knee injury, and Reid mentioned after the game that running back Spencer Ware also had a hamstring issue. Wide receiver Tyreek Hill also played through a couple of injuries to his wrist and foot.
“I’m sure he’s sore this morning, but if I was a betting man, I’d probably say that he’d play,” Reid said of Hill. “He loves to play the game.”
Berry was limited in practice Monday. Erving, Hill, Ware and Sammy Watkins, who was inactive Sunday, did not practice.
This story was originally published December 10, 2018 at 1:48 PM.