Washington Football Team tight end Ricky Seals-Jones had a very scary collision with a Fox cameraperson during the second quarter of their game against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday.
Up 10-7, WFT was looking to add more points to the board when Taylor Heinicke scrambled and launched a pass towards the endzone sidelines for Seals-Jones. The ball was just out of reach for the tight end but his forward momentum took him directly into the cameraperson who was standing just off of the sidelines. The two collided violently and they both tumbled to the ground, not getting up right away.
Per @NickiJhabvala, the cameraman was able to get up and walk away from the collision. pic.twitter.com/pm0Zy6G34A
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 2, 2022
Seals-Jones was boarded and taken off the field and WFT quickly announced that he would not return to the game after suffering a neck injury.
TE Ricky Seals-Jones has been ruled OUT with a neck injury
— Washington Commanders (@Commanders) January 2, 2022
Meanwhile, Washington Post reporter Nicki Jhabvala noted that the cameraman “walked off on his own power to an applause from the crowd.” Washington Post reporter Sam Fortier also said that the cameraman “walks off with a smile and a salute to the crowd.”
We’ll have to wait to find out the extent of Seals-Jones’ injury and hope for the best. He had one catch for eight yards on the day before the injury as well as 30 receptions for 271 yards and two touchdowns on the season.
The incident is a good reminder that being a cameraperson on the sidelines of a football game is a risky endeavor. There was a similar incident during an XFL game in 2020 and another cameraperson got trucked during team intros in the 2020 college football national championship game.
