There was a chance that the Los Angeles Chargers wouldn’t have to worry about defending one of the league’s best rookie wide receivers this Monday night against the Arizona Cardinals. Marvin Harrison Jr. exited the team’s game against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday with what was determined to be a concussion. Now several days later, he has cleared concussion protocol.
Harrison Clears Concussion Protocol, But Trending To Play
Concussions are hard to assess, so the league implemented the concussion protocol to help determine a player’s readiness to resume playing football. Here are the five phases a player must clear to return to full participation in practice.
- Phase 1, symptom-limited activity
- Phase 2, aerobic exercise
- Phase 3, football-specific exercise
- Phase 4, non-contact training drills
- Phase 5, full football activity/clearance
Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon said today that Harrison would practice on Thursday, which means Harrison was likely in phase 3 or 4. By Friday he ditched the yellow non-contact jersey, Which means he has progressed through the protocol to stage 5. On Saturday it was announced that Harrison had cleared and will play against the Chargers
The No. 4 overall pick of this year’s draft, Harrison has 17 receptions for 279 yards with four touchdowns.
Chargers Secondary
The Chargers secondary continues to reel from injuries. Asante Samuel Jr. was moved to the injured/reserve. Ja’Sir Taylor missed his second consecutive game and has been limited in practice this week and Kristian Fulton played half the team’s defensive snaps dealing with a knee issue and has not practiced this week. Deane Leonard also left the Denver game with a hamstring and has also missed its week’s practices.
This forced the Chargers to sign cornerback and former first-round pick, Eli Apple. Apple is currently on the team’s practice squad but can be elevated at any point.
While the Chargers’ defense has played phenomenally well, they have yet to face an offense as explosive as this one, and Marvin Harrison is a big reason the team has done as well as they have. They are currently the 8th most explosive offense in football with 12 percent of plays resulting in a big gain.
