Rashad Johnson Loses Finger: Arizona Cardinals Safety Loses Tip Of Middle Finger Making Tackle Against Saints

Arizona Cardinals safety Rashad Johnson reportedly lost a part of a finger during his team’s 31-7 loss to the New Orleans Saints.

Johnson, 27, was working as part of the Cardinals’ special teams unit when he attempted to tackle Saints running back Darren Sproles during a punt return, Kent Somers of the Arizona Republic notes. However, when Johnson returned to the sideline after the play, he noticed that the tip of his left middle finger was still inside of his glove.

Despite the severity of the injury, Johnson isn’t quite sure which part of the play resulted in the loss of the finger tip. “Johnson’s injury happened on a punt return, tackling sproles. Not sure what happened, might have smashed in ground. #AZCardinals [sic],” Somers wrote on Twitter.

Amazingly, Johnson didn’t allow the injury to cut his Sunday short. The 27-year-old safety wrapped up his injured finger and played out the rest of the game, Sports Illustrated notes.

Still, Johnson had to spent Sunday night in a hospital. The Cardinals player’s injury was severe enough to expose the bone in his left middle finger, and required immediate surgery. “Johnson had surgery yesterday. Bone was exposed so must watch for infection,” Somers wrote. “Drs shaved bone on Johnson's finger and repaired. Lost about down to first knuckle.”

For his part, Johnson doesn’t appear to be too worried about the loss of his finger; the 27-year-old has yet to address the injury on his Twitter account. However, Johnson did reject a fan’s request that he post a picture of the aftermath of his injury. “You prob don’t want see [that] 4real [sic],” Johnson wrote.

Johnson isn’t the first NFL player to lose part of a finger during a game. In 1986, Hall of Fame safety Ronnie Lott was told that he could either wear a cast to repair a severely injured finger on his left hand, or have part of the finger amputated. Lott opted for the amputation.