Chiefs & Eric Berry Finalizing Six-Year, $78M Deal, Now Highest Paid Safety

February 28, 2017

Update:

Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that the Chiefs and S Eric Berry are finalizing a six-year deal worth $78 million that leave him as the highest paid safety in the NFL.

Adam Schefter reports that Berry receives a $20 million signing bonus and $40 million guaranteed as part of this agreement.

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Jason La Canfora reports that the Chiefs and S Eric Berry are “very close” to an agreement on a six-year extension that would pay him $13 million per year.

According to La Canfora, he would be “stunned” if the two sides didn’t have a deal in place before Wednesday’s deadline to franchise players.

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Adam Schefter is reporting that the Chiefs are making a “strong push” to wrap up a long-term deal with S Eric Berry.

According to Schefter, the Chiefs are determined to keep Berry in Kansas City long-term.
Ian Rapoport confirms the news and adds that this deal would make Berry the highest paid safety in the NFL.
According to Rapoport, this would open the possibility for the Chiefs to franchise DT Dontari Poe.

Earlier in the day, ESPN’s Ed Werder reported that the Chiefs are expected to use the franchise tag on Berry to prevent him from testing the open market if they can’t get an agreement in place by Wednesday.

The Chiefs are clearly focused on taking care of their own players, as they already locked up G Laurent Duvernay-Tardif to a five-year, $41.25 million extension.

For what it’s worth, it would cost the Chiefs around $13.15 million to tag Berry for a second straight season while franchising Poe would be $13.5 million or so.

Berry, 28, worked his way back from Hodgkin’s lymphoma and managed to produce an impressive 2015 season. if a former first-round pick of the Chiefs back in 2010. He played out his rookie contract with the team before receiving the team’s franchise tag back in February.

In 2016, Berry appeared in all 16 games and recorded 77 tackles, four interceptions with two being returned for touchdowns, a forced fumble and nine pass defenses for the Chiefs. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 8 safety out of 92 qualifying players.

We have Berry featured in our Top 100 – 2017 Free Agents list.