Throughout the last several weeks, the Kansas City Chiefs have been without the services of star safety Eric Berry due to a nagging issue involving his heel around his surgically-repaired Achilles tendon.

There has been some clarity brought to the situation as Mike Garofolo voiced on Saturday that this issue with him off the field has been due to a deformity on the Achilles tendon that been causing him much pain and delaying his return. (h/t Pete Sweeney and  aborgmann of Arrowhead Pride)

“My understanding, and I’ve spoken to people familiar with his injury situation. He’s got what’s called a Haglund’s deformity in that Achilles. That’s a bone spur that basically digs into the Achilles. Shaun O’ Hara, our colleague at NFL Network, he had it. I spoke to him this week. He said it is extremely painful. He actually used a more colorful word that I won’t use here. It’s just something that continues to irritate the 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 thing 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, and they’ve been doing OK. That’s going to allow them a little bit more patience with Berry, but it is extremely painful.”

This gives more insight into why it has been a difficult process for Berry as he has been trying to push his way back toward being able to play. However, this physical discomfort hasn't allowed for him to practice in nearly the last two months and kept him return date a mystery.

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The Chiefs are now in the spot of having to let the entire situation play out on its own over the next few weeks that has being unlikely to make his return to the field this week as he has yet to even practice.

Ultimately, this is a situation that the Chiefs will continue to monitor closely moving forward to get a better determination on how much longer he will remain off the field.