Chargers RB Najee Harris calls eye injury ‘superficial,’ expects to play vs. Chiefs

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — Los Angeles Chargers running back Najee Harris said Monday that he expects to play Friday in the team’s season opener against the Kansas City Chiefs in São Paulo, Brazil.

Harris, who suffered an eye injury in a July 4 fireworks accident, returned to practice last week after spending all of training camp on the non-football illness list. Harris said he feels “good” and is focused on “trying to get back in that football shape.” He said the injury is “superficial” and has not affected his vision.

“We’re just ramping up to it,” Harris said of playing Friday, “and we’ll see where it takes us from there.”

Harris spoke outside on the edge of the practice fields, just through the door from the Chargers’ locker room at The Bolt, the team’s facility. He answered questions while wearing yellow sunglasses. Harris has not yet appeared around media members without sunglasses on.

“They’re glasses,” Harris said. “The sun’s out.”

When asked about the perception that he could be hiding something by wearing the sunglasses, Harris said, “I don’t care what people think. I honestly don’t. It’s not my job to care what other people think. It’s my job to do what I got to do. So they can write what they want, say what they want.”

Harris declined to go into details about what specifically happened on the night of July 4.

He did say the ordeal has been a “humbling experience.”

“I’m still going through it in a way,” Harris said. “So just that whole situation, it’ll show you how things can change in the snap of a finger. It’s a blessing every day that we wake up, and I’m just happy that everybody is safe and we’re alive.”

(Photo of Najee Harris working out in May: Kirby Lee / Imagn Images)