Source: Eric Berry won't report with Chiefs veterans on Friday

ByAdam Caplan ESPN logo
Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Kansas City Chiefs All-Pro safetyEric Berry will not be reporting to training camp when veterans report Friday, a source said. Chiefs rookies reported Tuesday.

As an unsigned franchise-tagged player, he's not required to report to training camp and the club cannot fine him for not reporting.

Berry's one-year franchise tag salary is $10.806 million for the 2016 season.

The deadline for extending contracts for players on franchise tags passed on July 15.

Coach Andy Reid said Tuesday that he has been in contact recently with Berry, the Chiefs' unsigned franchise-tag player, but did not know whether Berry would report Friday. But Reid didn't sound as if he was expecting Berry's absence to be extended.

"Whatever way you cut it, Eric Berry is a great football player and good things are going to happen to him here,'' Reid said. "I know how he's wired. He loves to play the game. That's how it is.

"It's a weird dynamic that you're juggling with finances and playing and all those things. I've seen it before. Guys normally come in and they just go. When it's time to play, they play. They put the business side aside and they get after it.''

Information from ESPN Chiefs reporter Adam Teicher was used in this report.