Najee Harris‘ injury sustained in a fireworks accident will delay his start to Chargers training camp. Although the free agency addition is expected to begin the season on time, his work with his new team is on hold.
The Chargers are expected to place Harris on their NFI list, GM Joe Hortiz said (via The Athletic’s Daniel Popper). Harris will land on Los Angeles’ active/NFI list, a training camp-only designation. The Chargers do not need to decide on a reserve/NFI list placement — which requires a four-game absence — for more than a month.
The former Steelers 1,000-yard back has never missed a game as a pro, and early expectations point to that durability persisting into Year 5. Harris suffered an eye injury earlier this month and has been receiving treatment at Stanford, Popper adds. He will soon begin working with Chargers doctors at the team facility. That said, Hortiz added (via ESPN.com’s Kris Rhim) neither he nor the team’s medical staff have seen the extent of Harris’ injury.
“Surface-level injury,” Hortiz said, via Rhim. “Obviously around the eye, so I’m sure there’s bruising and all that. We haven’t seen him, so we’ll get more clarity when he gets in here and our doctors see him.”
An NFI stay to open camp would cover this issue, as Harris was injured in a non-football activity. The active/PUP list covers football-related health issues heading into camp; Harris has not seen any of those keep him off the field as a pro. Harris was 68-for-68 in regular-season attendance in Pittsburgh, playing in all the Steelers’ playoff games during this period as well. He delivered four straight 1,000-yard rushing seasons, splitting time with Jaylen Warren for much of his tenure.
Even as Harris proved reliable in Pittsburgh, the former first-rounder never posted a 1,200-yard rushing season and did not command a big market. The Chargers added him on a one-year deal that included $5.25MM in base value. They then used a first-round pick on North Carolina’s Omarion Hampton, the consensus second-best back in the draft. Harris’ placement on the active/NFI list will give Hampton more time to work with the Chargers’ first-stringers. Veterans reported to Bolts camp Wednesday.
What an absolute fool.
You can tell this guy was a Steeler strictly based off of this. If I saw this I would say yeah he plays for Pittsburgh, I know he hasn’t in a few months but gd.
That’s the best thing that could happen for the chargers. Dudes a bad RB lol.
He’s a punching bag to take x amount of touches off their real RB.
It’s about all he’s good for anyways lol
The least explosive RB…
Three yards and a cloud of rubber pellets.
So where’s all the people defending the players and their contracts? Is he getting paid for this time off? Does the team have to continue paying him for the games he doesn’t play even though he signed a contract for said games?
Almost 2 weeks from the incident and the team doctors haven’t even looked at him yet? “Surface level injury”. Seems a bit more serious if you’re possibly missing a month of game time. Glad the Raiders passed on this clown.
That’s the part I’m confused on. They are talking about extent of injuries etc but haven’t even looked at him yet. It seem with money invested would be more involved.
After Jason Pierre-Paul decided to hold onto a small bomb a few years ago, how big of an idiot do you have to be to play with fireworks? Losing a finger and deforming a couple more probably cost him a few million over his last few contacts. He was still good, but how good could he have been? Maybe now we know why Knotheadjee is not still a Steeler. Young man is dumber than a post apparently. Guess it’s the same way as with drugs. “It’ll never happen to ME.” Until it does.
You’re supposed to pay other people to light the fireworks when you’re rich.