BREAKING: Patriots Provide Isaiah Bolden Update: Out of Hospital; Joint Practices Canceled
The New England Patriots announced Sunday morning that cornerback Isaiah Bolden has been released from the hospital following Saturday night's scary injury in a preseason game against the Green Bay Packers. Bolden is expected to travel with the team back to Foxboro today.
Bolden posted a thank-you message to his social media early Sunday morning:
In the wake of the episode, the Patriots and Tennessee Titans have agree to cancel next week's scheduled joint practices scheduled for Tuesday-Wednesday in Nashville. The Pats planned to fly to Tennessee Sunday, but now will remain in Foxboro next week before traveling for Friday night's final preseason game against the Titans.
The team's Sunday statement:
Bolden, a seventh-round rookie out of Jackson State, was injured after he absorbed a violent head-on collision with teammate Calvin Munson during the fourth quarter of Saturday's preseason game against the Packers. He immediately fell to the ground and lay motionless, seemingly unconscious until team medical personnel quickly arrived.
Packers' rookie receiver Malik Heath, who caught a short pass on the play, is from Jackson, Mississippi, the same town where Bolden went to college.
"I know him, so I didn't want to finish the game," Heath said to ESPN. "I felt bad, too. It was a good thing we didn't finish it. It was scary. That could've happened to me on the hit."
Patriots' Pro Bowl pass-rusher Matthew Judon added perspective with a Sunday morning post to social media. Wrote Judon:
Tell someone you love em never know
While players and staff from the Patriots and Packers formed prayer circles, Bolden was eventually loaded onto a stretcher and taken from the field by a cart. The Patriots soon after announced that he had movement in his extremities, but was staying in a Green Bay hospital overnight for evaluation and observation.
After Bolden was taken from the field on a medical cart, both teams opted to forego the rest of the game, shutting it down with 10:38 remaining. New England led 21-17 at the time of the suspension.
The scary situation around Bolden's injury proved tragically familiar: the prolonged stoppage and subsequent cancellation of a game drew eerie comparisons to Damar Hamlin's cardiac arrest episode during regular-season game last January between the Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals.
That game was also canceled. Hamlin, of course, made a full recovery and is playing for the Bills this season.
“It brought out that Damar feeling, and that’s just scary,” Patriots receiver Kendrick Bourne said after the game. “That’s how it feels. It’s just praying for him that he’s okay. They said he was moving, he was responding pretty well. Kind of hurt his neck a little bit. Looked like it was head to head. You just never know in those moments.”
Bolden, who credits Deion Sanders for his path from small-school to NFL, was the only player from a HBCU selected in last April's NFL Draft.
Said Bolden during training camp, "He molded me."
Bolden was the Pats' final draft pick, 245th overall. "This is something you've dreamed of your entire life," he said the day after the draft. "I'm beyond thankful for the opportunity to be selected by the Patriots."
Follow Patriots Country on Twitter and Facebook
Want the latest in breaking news and insider information on the Patriots? Click Here
