It was 10 years ago that Jason Pierre-Paul changed his life forever when a firework exploded in his hand at a Fourth of July gathering, causing significant damage and leading to the All-Pro defensive end to lose a portion of his finger. Now Chargers running back Najee Harris is the latest to have a fireworks-related mishap, but thankfully it isn’t as serious.
Harris’ agent released a statement on Thursday to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport that his client sustained an injury on July 4, but will be ready for the upcoming season.
“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.”
It’s unclear what kind of eye injury Harris sustained, or whether it was caused because of sparks to the eye, or a projectile. No images have been released of the injury at this time.
Government data shows that 14,700 people were treated in the emergency room for fireworks-related injuries in 2024, with 11 deaths being caused by fireworks. The majority of injuries come in the form of burns, and are often due to misuse of fireworks or poor preparedness. It’s also especially dangerous to use old, potentially out-of-date fireworks at gatherings — which people have a tendency to do.
At this point you’d think NFL players would just accept that perhaps being around fireworks isn’t the best thing for them. Hopefully the statement from Harris’ camp is accurate, and he will be back quickly.
