Chargers running back Najee Harris likely will begin training camp on the non-football injury list, general manager Joe Hortiz said Wednesday, after the running back suffered a minor eye injury during a fireworks incident on July 4.
As veteran teammates reported for camp Wednesday morning, Harris was still getting evaluated by doctors in the Bay Area and was expected to join the team later in the day.
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“Everything that’s been relayed to us has been positive,” Hortiz said.
Harris suffered a “superficial” eye injury in a holiday weekend fireworks accident, according to a statement from his agent, Doug Hendrickson, and was “fully expected to be ready for the upcoming NFL season.”
The Chargers’ medical team has remained in contact with Harris and his local doctors, said Hortiz, who reported Harris was in good spirits and more worried for a friend who was more severely injured. While the general manager wanted to save final judgment on Harris’ availability until the prized free-agent acquisition could be seen in person by the Chargers staff, Hortiz didn’t anticipate that Harris would be sidelined for long.
“We’ll let him get himself ready and then he’ll get out there,” Hortiz said.
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The Chargers will begin training camp Thursday with five players on the physically unable to perform list, including receiver Mike Williams and safety Elijah Molden. Both key players could return to practice soon, Hortiz said.
Molden missed the offseason program after undergoing knee surgery to repair a torn meniscus, but told reporters in April he was prepared to return fully for training camp.
Williams, who is two years removed from tearing his anterior cruciate ligament, is not sidelined because of a pre-existing injury, Hortiz said, and is working back from an injury suffered during the spring after the 30-year-old returned to the team as a free agent.
“Just working through something small,” Hortiz said, “and he could be out there any day.”
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The Chargers, who open the preseason on July 31 in the Hall of Fame Game, are the first team to report to training camp. The early arrival put rookie Tre’ Harris in a precarious position as he became the first holdout in a log-jam of 30 unsigned second-round picks.
The receiver who was picked 23rd in the second round (55th overall) had not reported to training camp yet, Hortiz said Wednesday, four days after fellow Chargers rookies arrived.
As NFL training camps begin soon, the league is in a standoff that began when the Houston Texans signed the second pick of the second round, receiver Jayden Higgins, to a four-year, $11.7-million, fully guaranteed contract in May. It was the first time a pick outside of the first round had inked a fully guaranteed deal. The Browns, who picked linebacker Carson Schwesinger one slot ahead of Higgins in the second round, then followed suit with another fully guaranteed contract.
Now teams, agents and the remaining 30 second-round picks are left waiting for the next domino to fall.
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“I wish I could put a crystal ball on it,” Hortiz said when asked of his prediction on when Tre’ Harris’ deal could be done. “I hope it’s done soon. I hope he gets out here in practice. Practice is vital for everyone. Not just him, everybody. There’s a reason we come to camp and you want to hit the ground running Week 1.”
Offensive tackle Rashawn Slater reported for training camp Wednesday amid his own contract negotiations as the star left tackle is in line for a lucrative extension. Coming off his second Pro Bowl appearance, the 26-year-old Slater is due to make $19 million in the last year of his contract, the sixth-highest salary among left tackles this season, according to overthecap.com. He did not join the team for voluntary workouts this offseason, but returned for mandatory minicamp. Hortiz expects Slater to participate in training camp while contract talks progress.
“We’re working through it,” Hortiz said. “Like any high-level negotiation … they just take time. But every conversation’s been great. Both sides, we’re making progress. We’re feeling good about it.”
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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