Damar Hamlin returns to starting spot he held before collapse on field
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (WIVB) — Damar Hamlin's remarkable comeback story continues into the start of a new NFL season with a return to the position he held in the Buffalo Bills secondary before his heart-stopping setback on the football field less than two years ago.
Hamlin will start Buffalo's opening game Sunday at home against the Arizona Cardinals. It will be the 26-year-old's first start for the Bills since Jan. 2, 2023, the night in Cincinnati when Hamlin collapsed and went into cardiac arrest after making a tackle.
"What else can’t this young man do?" coach Sean McDermott said Wednesday after the Bills released their first depth chart of the regular season. "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."
"Let alone just to decide to play football and contact football, right?," McDermott said. "In full pads at the NFL level. I don’t think I need to say anything more. I mean, it’s incredible."
Hamlin appeared in five games for the Bills last season as a backup defender and special teams contributor. Hamlin's return to the starting role he held for 13 games two seasons ago has been building since spring practices and through training camp, with secondary stalwarts Jordan Poyer and Micah Hyde no longer on the roster, and with injuries to free agent acquisition Mike Edwards and second-round draft pick Cole Bishop.