Ben Watson will sit out the Patriots’ first four games of the 2019 season as he serves a four-game suspension after failing a drug test. The New England tight end still is seeing preseason action, but his third game of the summer ended with an injury.
After a nice catch and run along the sideline early in the second quarter Thursday, Carolina Panthers safety Eric Reid came in and landed a late hit on Watson, resulting in an unnecessary roughness penalty.
Watson remained on the ground as he was attended to by the Patriots medical staff before walking off the field. He did give a thumbs up to the Gillette Stadium crowd, but headed directly to the pop-up medical tent upon reaching the sideline.
The 38-year-old exited for the Patriots’ locker room shortly after leaving the medical tent, according to The Athletic’s Jeff Howe.
There is one interesting tidbit behind this injury. Watson responded to Reid on Twitter just four days ago, telling the Panthers safety he was wrong after claiming some within social justice movements pretend to care about the issues at hand.
Check out the interaction:
Worth noting that Reid did crouch beside Watson and extended his hand following the hit.
