Damar Hamlin will start at safety in Sunday’s Week 1 game against the Arizona Cardinals, Bills coach Sean McDermott announced on Wednesday. The start will mark Hamlin’s first since he suffered cardiac arrest during a game against the Cincinnati Bengals on Jan. 2, 2023.
“Truly a blessing,” Hamlin told reporters on Wednesday. “I reflect back on the whole process and not knowing if I would be able to play again. … Sitting with that uncertainty was eating at me because football is truly my passion. It’s the thing that I’ve always been obsessed with my entire life. … It all just goes to the power of being process oriented and taking things one day at a time and accepting where you are at each moment of the process.”
Hamlin started in 13 of the 15 games in which he appeared during the 2022 season, the same season in which Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest in Week 17. That moment — which required heroism on the part of first responders and medical personnel to save Hamlin’s life — cast Hamlin’s football future in doubt. If anything, football was the last priority on anyone’s mind. That didn’t stop Hamlin, though, as he returned in 2023 to participate in five games primarily as a special teamer. Now, he’ll line up alongside teammate Taylor Rapp, representing the revamped safety tandem after veterans Jordan Poyer and Micah Hyde departed Buffalo in the offseason.
Source: NFL
