GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Patriots rookie cornerback Isaiah Bolden has been released from a Green Bay area hospital following a series of evaluations after being carted off the field in the fourth quarter of New England's exhibition game with the Packers.
The Patriots said in a statement Sunday that Bolden, who appeared to collide with teammate Calvin Munson while attempting to make a hit on a pass completion to Green Bay's Malik Heath, will travel with the team Sunday when it returns Massachusetts.
The league made the decision to call off the remainder of the game after Bolden’s injury, with the Patriots leading 21-17 with 10:29 left in the fourth quarter. The team said after the injury that Bolden had movement in all his extremities and was transported to Aurora Bay Medical Center for testing.
The Patriots say they've canceled their scheduled joint practices with the Tennessee Titans on Tuesday and Wednesday in Nashville. The Patriots will train in Foxborough this week and fly to Tennessee on Thursday for Friday's exhibition game.
His teammates couldn’t avoid thinking about Damar Hamlin.
The incident came more than seven months after Hamlin — a Buffalo Bills safety — went into cardiac arrest and was resuscitated on the field after making what appeared to be a routine tackle against the Cincinnati Bengals on Jan. 2.
“Of course that’s in the back of all of our minds when something like that happens,” Patriots cornerback Jalen Mills said.
Bolden, a seventh-round pick from Jackson State, appeared to collide with teammate Calvin Munson while attempting to make a hit on a pass completion to Malik Heath of the Packers.
As medical officials treated Bolden, both teams left their respective sidelines and got on the field, with some players getting on one knee.
“It’s a reminder of the fragility of life," Patriots special teams player Matthew Slater said. "It’s not something we spend a lot of time thinking about, but the reality is all of us will have to wrestle with that at some point in time, every person who’s ever walked the face of this Earth. I think it’s unfortunate that it happens in this context and this setting because this is meant to be a joyful, celebratory experience.
Players from both teams said they were reminded of Hamlin's injury.
Given the similarities, both teams agreed there was no point in continuing the game.
“This is not the AFC championship,” Slater said. “We’re not playing for records. It's preseason game two. When you have an injury like that, it affects a lot of guys in a lot of different ways. Clearly our team was shaken by what happened.”
Packers outside linebacker Kingsley Enagbare agreed.
“That definitely was a shocker and one of those things that you kind of get the chills, when you see someone kind of pretty much without motion on the football field,” Enagbare said. “That’s never a good sign, but I guess it’s definitely for the best that the game ended the way it did. I know I was a little shook up, man.”