FOXBORO, Mass. — It’s not unusual to see safety Duron Harmon smiling and laughing in the New England Patriots’ locker room. That smile was a little wider Friday, however.
Harmon missed a practice for the first time in his NFL career Thursday for good reason: His fiancée gave birth to their second child.
“I got blessed with a baby boy, Dallas Daniel Harmon, and as you can see, I can’t stop smiling,” Harmon said. “I’m excited. Everybody’s healthy. I’m blessed and like I said, excited.”
A reporter caught himself while asking Harmon, “There’s got to be a story behind it, how did it happen — not how did it happen …”
“I think we all know that,” Harmon said, laughing, before continuing with how he found out the baby was on the way Thursday.
“It’s a funny story. Me and my fiancée, we were both up at 5 o’clock, just laying there. She was like, ‘Ah, I don’t know, my stomach feels a little weird,’ and I’m just like, it’s 5 in the morning, I’m not gonna lie, I’m like, ‘Maybe it’s just your stomach upset, because my stomach, it’s a little upset too.’ She’s like, ‘No, we’re going, I think it’s time.’ And I’m like, ‘How about you make sure you’re right before I have to call Bill and let him know I won’t be coming in today, because I don’t want to go there and then come back.’ So, she goes, and I’m about to pull in to Foxboro, and I get a phone call, she’s like, ‘He’s coming now, so you need to hurry up and come.’ Stuck in traffic, of course, on 95 North for about an hour, but I got there and about two hours later, he came out looking beautiful as ever and just gave me a bunch of joy. So, great story.”
Dallas won’t be watching his father from Gillette Stadium this week, but the baby boy will be cheering on the Patriots safety with Duron’s fiancée, Christine, and their older son, Chris.
“Not this week. He’s probably going to stay home with mama,” Harmon said. “They’ll watch on TV. He’ll have on his little Patriots uniform. You know I had to have that set up. He’ll have it on, he’ll be supporting me. Him and his big brother.”
It’s been a good year for Harmon, who has three interceptions and is helping the Patriots’ secondary flourish with his strong play at safety.
It’s not unusual for Patriots head coach Bill Belichick to give players a day off for major life events.
“I’ve coached a lot of players. Every player has their own personal situations that come up from time to time — could be babies, deaths, hospital visits, relatives, so forth and so on,” Belichick said Friday. “Each one of them is different and each one of them is about that individual person — what their needs are and what their situation is. There is no set rule or anything because we’re all different.”
Thumbnail photo via Twitter/@MarkDanielsPJ
