Chiefs safety Eric Berry signed a six-year, $78 million contract with $40 million guaranteed last week, but at a formal announcement today in Kansas City, Berry said of that deal, “The compensation is not really the main thing.”
What Berry really stressed today was the importance of staying in a place he feels is home, and the importance of being with his family. Both of Berry’s parents were by his side as he talked to reporters today, and he credited them with helping him get through a battle with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2014 and 2015.
“I had great caretakers with my mom and my dad,” Berry said.
As a result, Berry said, his relatives were the people he wanted to share this new contract with.
“I called my parents. My uncle was right there with me but I called my parents and let them know, and I called my brothers,” he said.
Berry also credited the Chiefs’ coaches for getting him to where he is, saying they kept coaching him even as he battled cancer.
“The way they coached me you’d think I didn’t have cancer. They pushed me every day,” Berry said. “But at the same time they wanted to make sure I was feeling alright. Having that accountability, that pushed me on a daily basis.”
Now Berry has the security of knowing he’ll be in Kansas City for years to come, with his family by his side.
