Avonte Maddox feared he was paralyzed after hit

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When Eagles cornerback Avonte Maddox was hit by teammate Andrew Sendejo on Sept. 26, he knew his legs hurt.

The problem was, nothing above his waist did.

According to Dave Zangaro of NBCSportsPhiladelphia.com, Maddox described the incident from the game against the Packers, and the moments of fear.

He said for 20 seconds, he couldn’t move his upper body, before he regained feeling.

“‘OK, I’m not paralyzed,’” Maddox recalled. “That’s when I started smiling.”

He said he tried to crack jokes with teammates who were worried about his condition, once he realized the damage wasn’t life-altering.

“Yeah, they know how I am as a person,” Maddox said. “I’m always smiling, always joking around. If they know they can get a smile out of me, then it’s at ease, make sure they ain’t worried about me. They got a game to finish. We wanted to come out with a victory, which we did. I came out all right as of now, so we’re good.”

Maddox was released from the hospital that night in time to return with the team. He missed the following four games with a concussion and neck injury, but he returned to practice last week, and hopes to return this week against the Bears.