New Chief Jeremy Maclin has shared some of Eric Berry’s fears

Jeremy Maclin has kept his phone off for most of the last few days. His name was all over the Internet, of course, and one of the best free agents on the NFL market just wanted some peace and quiet. Unplugging can be therapy.

So you understand why he still hasn’t talked to most of the people he’s now working with as the Chiefs’ new star wide receiver. He’s met with Andy Reid, of course, who is his coach again after four years together with the Eagles. John Dorsey, the general manager. Clark Hunt, the owner. And Chase Daniel, the backup quarterback and a good friend from their days together at Missouri.

But that’s about all of the conversations so far. That process will pick up now, as things calm down after Maclin’s contract with the Chiefs is finally official. He’ll reach out to his new teammates, one by one, hoping to get to know them beyond their names and uniform numbers.

There is one conversation that Maclin is looking forward to in a much different way than the others, and this goes beyond his deep respect for Eric Berry’s play and reputation.

Maclin prayed for Berry when the news broke about the Chiefs safety’s Hodgkin lymphoma diagnosis in November and has thought of him often in the days and months since. Maclin does this without ever talking to Berry, and for reasons that go beyond the brotherhood of professional athletes.

“You know what, man, that hit close to home,” Maclin said. “I don’t know Eric on a personal level, and I don’t even know what he’s going through because I never got diagnosed. But hearing that news, and kind of understanding what I was going through with my sickness, hearing the severity of what could happen, it hit me and I wanted to pray for him.”

It’s been nearly four years since Maclin got what he hopes was the scare of his life, the summer when every symptom he was showing and the tests doctors put him through led everyone to believe he had cancer.

Maclin had just completed his second season for the Eagles, and everything was going so well. He caught 70 passes for 964 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2010, the star potential now obvious, but shortly after that season he began to feel lethargic.

He ran a fever, sweating through his bed sheets, and lost around 15 pounds in a matter of just a few months. Doctors put him through tests, which didn’t show much, so then came more tests and those didn’t show much, either.

A cancer scan showed Maclin’s lymph nodes were severely inflamed, which made everyone believe he had lymphoma. Months more of testing were both frightening and inconclusive, unable to diagnose cancer but also unable to rule anything out. Maclin withdrew a bit, his mood understandably sinking.

“The unknown, not knowing if it was or wasn’t,” Maclin says now. “That’s what scared me the most.”

Pictures and reports were sent to doctors across the country, and there never was a firm diagnosis, but eventually Maclin started to feel better. His energy returned, he was working out again and was healthy enough to start the next football season on time — although his family told the Philadelphia Inquirer that Maclin was anemic, his blood count only returning to normal in November 2011.

The best anyone has come up with for a diagnosis is that Maclin somehow contracted an inflammatory virus that just needed to run its course.

He had a terrifying summer, but thankfully, nothing more. There have been no recurrences, either, Maclin staying so strong that now when people talk about his health they’re usually referring to an ACL tear that washed out his 2013 season.

Maclin is a star now, his 1,318 yards receiving last year ranking ninth in the NFL. His new contract reportedly includes a $22.5 million guarantee, and his new team is dreaming of how he will transform their offense. Instead of an anvil hanging over their heads, that no touchdowns by a wide receiver thing is now a jokey reference Reid uses to emphasize the change.

But Maclin’s journey will always include that cancer scare. He’s a smart man and grew up in such a tough way that a youth coach took him and effectively made him part of the family. So Maclin might have this perspective anyway, but lessons from that awful summer have stuck with him.

“Yeah, you just can’t take anything for granted,” Maclin said. “And understand there are other things in life than football. If you have family things to take care of, or personal health things to take care of, you have to take that serious. There is more to life than just football.”

Nobody knows that better than Berry, of course. Berry’s reputation as a man is well known throughout the NFL, so even without a personal relationship Maclin talks confidently of Berry’s drive and strength pulling him through his fight with lymphoma.

Maclin can’t fully relate to Berry’s situation, of course, and he wouldn’t want to equate a feared diagnosis with a real one. But there probably isn’t anyone on the team who can better understand what Berry is going through.

That’s a conversation Maclin will turn his phone on for.

“Definitely,” he says. “We’re teammates now.”

This story was originally published March 11, 2015 at 6:17 PM with the headline "New Chief Jeremy Maclin has shared some of Eric Berry’s fears."