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Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin is set to make an astonishing return to the starters in the week one encounter against the Arizona Cardinals. This will be his first game after a scary episode that occurred to him on the field.
On Wednesday, coach Sean McDermott made an official statement expressing his delight at the news of Hamlin’s return, which signified an essential part of the player’s recovery process. On 2nd January 2023, a match with the Cincinnati Bengals brought Hamlin’s cardiac arrest, effectively ending his season and putting a big question mark on his career in the professional sport.
The incident, week 17 of the 2022 season, was where medical help was immediately needed on the sidelines, leaving fans and teammates in shock and praying for his recovery. Tracking back on the tough year, Hamlin showed much gratitude and resilience.
Addressing the press, "Truly a blessing," he said. "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's Resilient Return
Hamlin began playing for the Bills in July 2020.
He emerged as an essential player in the Bills' defense, playing 15 games in the 2022 season with twelve starts. Playing the game again in 2023 shocked even me, even though football was practiced primarily only with the second team and only on special teams in the first fourth after spring - there is nothing to say about how severe remorse he managed to shake off.
This year, Hamlin has been included in the first team to play alongside Taylor Rapp, a move that will see a new safety pairing for the Bills beginning with the loss of both veterans Jordan Poyer and Micah Hyde. McDermott valued Hamlin for his guts and hard work.
"What else can't this young man do? He basically went through what he went through on the field, you guys have written about that over and over, and to come back from that," said McDermott. "It's one thing to come back off of an ACL or a broken bone.
It's another thing to come back off of what he came back off of, right? Let alone just to decide to play football and contact football in full pads at the NFL level." "I don't think I need to say anything more. It's incredible.
I think God's hands have been on Damar and his family and will continue to be. We're just extremely proud and full of gratitude to watch him go through what he's went through and where he is now," said McDermott with total admiration and support for such a young man as well as gratitude for the miracle called recovery.
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