If you're a fan of an NFL team, you never want to read the phrase "fireworks mishap" in the same sentence as the name of one of your players. Unfortunately, Los Angeles Chargers fans had to do just that on Thursday afternoon. Doug Henderson, the agent of newly signed running back Najee Harris, released the following statement, via Adam Schefter of ESPN:
"Najee Harris was present at a 4th of July event where a fireworks mishap resulted in injuries to several attendees. Najee sustained a superficial eye injury during the incident, but is fully expected to be ready for the upcoming NFL season"
The original reaction to this is, obviously, to hope that everyone in attendance is okay. Injuries to "several attendees" sounds pretty scary and multiple injuries stemming from one "mishap" makes it sound like a pretty big ordeal.
The second is to breathe a sigh of relief if you're a Chargers fan, I guess? Getting hit in the literal eye with fireworks sounds like a career-ender and a potential life-altering injury, so Harris making it out with just a "superficial" injury, as Henderson puts it, is close to best case scenario — I suppose.
Najee Harris has never missed an NFL game
To not miss a single game in four seasons while playing the most unforgiving position in the sport is massively impressive, especially with Harris' hard-nosed style of running.
It's even wilder that potentially the closest Harris has come to missing time is because of a fireworks accident months before the NFL season actually starts.
Harris has recorded over 1000 rushing yards each of his four NFL seasons, and is expected to be a big part of the Chargers ground attack in 2025. He could split time with rookie Omarion Hampton, who the team drafted in the first round in April's NFL Draft.