It's now been almost 13 months since Eric Berry suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon, the injury that cost him all but one game of the 2017 season, but all indications are that the Pro Bowl safety could still be sidelined for a while longer.
The Kansas City Chiefs veteran did return to the field early this offseason but has been absent since mid-August, when he began missing practice because of a heel injury. And now, with Berry already listed as doubtful for the team's Week 4 game against the Denver Broncos on Monday night, NFL Network's Mike Garafalo has suggested the fan favorite could require even more patience from Kansas City moving forward.
As documented by Arrowhead Pride, Garafalo said on "Good Morning Football" Saturday that Berry actually has what's called a "Haglund's deformity" in his Achilles tendon.
"That's a bone spur that basically digs into the Achilles," Garafalo explained. "It's just something that continues to irritate that area. Some guys have been able to play with it -- you get a shoe here or there, you can adjust ... but that's what's going on. It's going to be a pain management thing. It's not like this will tear the Achilles necessarily. A lot of these cases don't result in a tear, but that's why, with Berry right now, he has not played ... That's going to allow them a little bit more patience with Berry, but it is extremely painful."
Chiefs head athletic trainer Rick Burkholder had previously ruled Berry "literally day to day," so it remains to be seen when the safety could make his 2018 debut.
Before his ruptured Achilles in 2017, Berry made four Pro Bowls in five years and was named the NFL's Comeback Player of the Year in 2015 a year after enduring treatment for Hodgkin's lymphoma. He's been with the Chiefs since 2010, when Kansas City drafted him fifth overall out of Tennessee.