N'Keal Harry was knocked out of the New England Patriots' Week 7 matchup against the San Francisco 49ers with a head injury. The wideout then missed last weekend's Buffalo Bills game with a concussion.
Head injuries never should be taken lightly, but Harry's history of concussions only makes his situation more concerning.
The second-year wide receiver dealt with a number of head injuries as a kid. In fact, a doctor even advised Harry to take time away from the sport or quit it altogether.
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“When we were going over that, my Grandma and I made the decision that I should stop playing football,” Harry told Sports360AZ in 2016. “So that was real tough for me at a young age. I was just starting to play the sport, I had only been playing for a year or two. Then to have that taken away from me, it was really rough. I cried a lot.”
“Having concussions, especially at that age, you learn that if your head is bothering you or you feel you might have a concussion, you’ve got to tell somebody,” Harry added. “There are times in a game where you really don’t want to tell anybody and there’s even times I might play through that. But even after the game if anything is going on, I am going to tell my trainer because I don’t want anything to happen to me that makes it tougher for me to live down the road.”
Those comments from Harry four years ago certainly raise the concern about the first-round draft pick going forward. There's no word yet on Harry's status heading into the Patriots' Monday Night Football matchup vs. the New York Jets, but it'd be foolish for New England to rush him back into action.
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Harry has 19 catches for 172 yards and one touchdown in his sophomore season. Damiere Byrd, Jakobi Meyers, and Gunner Olszewski are expected to handle most of the wide receiver workload in his absence.