Former New York Giants Pro Bowl pass-rusher Jason Pierre-Paul became a cautionary tale for all NFLers back in 2015 when he injured himself in a fireworks accident on the 4th of July.
Pierre-Paul set off a firework in his hand, resulting in the amputation of his right index finger plus the partial loss of his right thumb and middle finger.
He had to play the second half of 2015 (he made his season debut in Week 9) with a giant club-shaped cast on his right hand.
“I carry myself differently,” Pierre-Paul told Sports Illustrated of what he took away from the accident. “I look at things differently. I try not to put myself in horrible situations anymore. I have a lot of people depending on me—even people I didn’t know depended on me.
“… I could dwell on it, like, [expletive], I wish I had that finger, but when I look in the mirror, I’m happy. Thank the Lord—it could have been worse.”
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Ever since Pierre-Paul’s incident, the NFL has taken 4th of July safety much more seriously, annually warning players of the dangers of tempting fate.
But despite the number of warnings and precautions the NFL sends out to its players, there’s bound to be a few slip ups.
Enter Najee Harris.
The 27-year-old tailback, who signed a one-year, $5.25 million contract with the Los Angeles Chargers after spending his first four seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers, was involved in a 4th of July accident of his own, according to his agent Doug Hendrickson, though his was fortunately nowhere near as severe as Pierre-Paul’s.
“Najee Harris was present at a 4th of July event where a fireworks mishap resulted in injuries to several attendees,” Hendrickson said, via ESPN’s Adam Schefter. “Najee sustained a superficial eye injury during the incident, but is fully expected to be ready for the upcoming NFL season.”
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Fortunately for the Chargers, Harris’ eye injury doesn’t appear to be serious enough to put him at risk of missing any part of the 2025 season.
Per Fox Sports, the Contra Costa Fire Protection District shared over the weekend that five people were injured in a fireworks-related accident, with one of the five victims listed in serious condition.
According to that report, four of the injured were taken to the hospital and the fifth person later went to the hospital.
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