Ex-Chiefs star Eric Berry reportedly sat out this season, plans return to NFL in 2020
When safety Eric Berry was cut by the Chiefs after last season, fans around Kansas City were curious where he would play next.
But Berry never signed with another team despite visiting with the Dallas Cowboys in March and whispers that Cleveland had contacted him.
NFL Network reporter Mike Garafolo revealed Berry took a planned leave of absence from football.
“I kept waiting for him to jump back into the league,” Garafolo said Saturday on “Good Morning Football” on the NFL Network. “Turns out that he actually did have opportunities to play in the league this past year.
“He took a sabbatical. He wanted to make sure that he could get himself right both mentally and physically. Because remember it was the first time he ever experienced getting cut and he had that Achilles thing that kept him off the field last year. He does intend to play in 2020. He’s only 31. ... He believes he still has some good football left, but intentionally (took a) sabbatical this year to step away from football a little bit and basically cleanse himself.”
Berry, 31, played his entire nine-year career with the Chiefs. But while trying to recover from injuries in 2017 and 2018, he appeared in a total of three regular-season games for the Chiefs, who released him last March.
Here is Garofolo on Berry:
This story was originally published January 25, 2020 at 1:39 PM.
