Berry is NFL’s highest-paid safety
Eric Berry sat behind a small table in the Kansas City Chiefs’ training complex, flanked by his parents, and made the kind of admission that probably made General Manager John Dorsey wonder.
“Someone could have offered me more money somewhere else, and they could have offered me less here, and it wouldn’t have balanced out,” Berry said Tuesday. “You can’t put a price on chemistry.”
The Chiefs were forced to put a price on it anyway.
The team that drafted Berry in the first round seven years ago signed him to a $78-million, sixyear deal to make him the NFL’s highest-paid safety.
It’s a deal that was more than a year in the making after the sides failed to reach an agreement and Berry spent last season playing under the franchise tag. It’s also one that should stabilize the Kansas City defense for the foreseeable future. Barry was selected All-Pro for the third time last season.
The NFL suspended New York Jets receiver Jalin Marshall and Green Bay Packers lineman Letroy Guion for the first four games of the 2017 season for violating the league’s policy on performance-enhancing drugs. The New York Daily News reported that Marshall tested positive for Adderall. Guion started 15 games last season, making 30 tackles.
In their first free-agent move, the Arizona Cardinals agreed to terms on a four-year contract to retain tight end Jermaine Gresham. Terms were not revealed. Gresham caught 18 passes for 223 yards last season.
Defensive end Charles Johnson will continue his long career with the Carolina Panthers after signing a two-year contract extension. Terms were not released. The 33-year-old Johnson has played all 11 seasons with the Panthers.
Cornerback DeShawn Shead and backup linebacker Brock Coyle will not receive qualifying offers from the Seattle Seahawks, meaning both players will become unrestricted free agents.
The San Francisco 49ers cut their second veteran player in two days, releasing safety Antoine Bethea. That move came hours after the team announced it had released wide receiver Torrey Smith. that it had accepted his decision but emphasized “the presumption of innocence.”
Last week, the French newspaper Le Monde reported that Fredericks received almost $300,000 at the same time he and his colleagues selected the host of the 2016 Summer Games, choosing Rio de Janeiro over Chicago and other candidates.
The U.S. will open this summer’s Gold Cup tournament against Panama before going on to meet Martinique and the winner of a Haiti-Nicaragua playoff in group play of the biennial regional soccer championship. The first-round U.S. games will be played in Nashville on July 8, Tampa, Fla., on July 12 and Cleveland on July 15.
Camille Abily scored two goals, Eugenie Le Sommer added another and France beat the United States women’s soccer team, 3-0, to win the SheBelieves Cup in Washington.
Cleveland State Coach Gary Waters resigned after 11 seasons, days after the Vikings lost in the first round of the Horizon League tournament to finish 9-22.
Nobuhiro Matsuda hit a three-run homer as Japan scored five runs in the fifth inning on its way to an 11-6 win over Cuba in the World Baseball Classic in Tokyo. In Seoul, Ryan Lavarnway hit a two-run homer in the third inning and Nate Freiman added a threerun shot in the ninth to help Israel beat Taiwan, 15-7, and improve to 2-0. In the other game in Seoul, Jurickson Profar and Randolph Obuder both hit two-run homers to give the Netherlands a 5-0 win over South Korea.