Patriots RB Damien Harris might sit out opener with hand injury

The Patriots might be light at the running back position when they open up their season against the Miami Dolphins.

According to ESPN, Damien Harris is dealing with a hand injury and it could affect his availability for the Patriots home opener next week. According to the NFL Network, the running back had surgery on his pinky finger and it’s expected that "it’ll take a few weeks to heal."

Harris has been absent in practice this week after appearing in all 12 [...]

The Patriots might be light at the running back position when they open up their season against the Miami Dolphins.

According to ESPN, Damien Harris is dealing with a hand injury and it could affect his availability for the Patriots home opener next week. According to the NFL Network, the running back had surgery on his pinky finger and it’s expected that "it’ll take a few weeks to heal."

Harris has been absent in practice this week after appearing in all 12 training camp practices, which he starred in. The 2019 third-round pick looked great with multiple decisive, hard runs. It got to the point where it wouldn’t have been surprising had Harris surpassed Sony Michel as the Patriots starting running back. However, injuries are a reason why Harris didn’t play much last season.

Last summer, Harris looked good in the Patriots second preseason game, rushing for 80 yards on 14 carries (5.7 yards per carry). However, he suffered a hand injury the next preseason game against Carolina and missed most of training camp. In the regular season, Harris only appeared in two games, rushing for 12 yards on four carries.

With Harris’ availability for the season opener in doubt, it’ll be interesting to see who the Patriots have at the running back position to start the year. Michel is coming off offseason foot surgery and started camp on the physical unable to perform list. Lamar Miller is also coming off the PUP list after a season-ending knee injury. That leaves the Patriots with three healthy backs in James White, Rex Burkhead and undrafted free agent J.J. Taylor.

mdaniels@providencejournal.com

On Twitter: @MarkDanielsPJ