Feb 21, 2023; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Buffalo Bills and former Pittsburgh Panthers defensive back Damar Hamlin blows kisses to the crowd while being recognized during a time-out against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in the first half at the Petersen Events Center. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
NCAA Basketball: Georgia Tech at Pittsburgh
(New York, NY) — Buffalo Bills OTAs were open to the media, where Damar Hamlin took another huge step towards his NFL return.
The Bills confirmed the 25-year-old was a full participant in practice Tuesday.
“Really proud of him to take that next step” Bills general manager Brandon Beane said. “He’s still got more milestones to hit, but to think back, we’re just at the beginning of June and that was the beginning of January, and we were just hoping he’d live, and now he’s not only got a normal life, but we’re talking about playing, not any football, NFL football.”
Wasting no time returning to contact, Hamlin was shaken up after contesting a catch appearing to have injured his shoulder, according to ESPN’s Alaina Getzenberg. The safety was able to return to practice after a brief absence.
According to Getzenbger, Hamlins day one of practice was a similar to most players.
Beane outlined the path back to football, explaining that live contact is the next goal, something the team hopes to achieve during training camp.
“We’ll continue to ramp him up with helmets on. But that’ll be probably the next big hurdle for him, tackling,” Beane said.
On January 2nd during the first quarter of the Bills’ Monday Night Football game against the Cincinnati Bengals the world was sent into shock. Hamlin appeared to make a routine tackle before collapsing to the ground entering cardiac arrest. CPR was performed on Hamlin as he lost his pulse on the field needing to be revived through resuscitation and defibrillation.
It would be later determined that the cause of his cardiac arrest was a rare medical condition referred to as commotio cordis, a severe injury to the chest that interrupts the heart’s electrical charge causing life threatening fibrillations.
After being cleared to resume football activities back in April, Hamlin appears to be on track to make one the most improbable NFL comebacks ever.
