It’s been a long road for Bills safety Damar Hamlin as he’s continued to recover from on-field January's on-field cardiac incident. Even in the near-immediate aftermath of the scary injury, early indications had Hamlin desiring to return to the field and play professional football again. Nothing has changed in the interim on that front, with Alaina Getzenberg of ESPN relaying that Hamlin remains focused on playing in the NFL again.
Bills GM Brandon Beane visited the second-year safety this week, with Hamlin once again expressing his consistent desire to return to the field. Beane explained that while Hamlin has at least one more doctor visit lined up, things are “trending in the right direction.”
“We’ll get him through all (his medical consultations),” Beane said of the plans moving forward for Hamlin, “and then we’ll make sure all of our medical people are hearing all those opinions on each visit and make sure that we’re all on the same page of what it would like.”
As far as a timeline for a decision on his season status, Beane explained that Hamlin’s medical evaluations and consultations should wrap up by April's end, allowing team and player to make a fully-informed decision assuming no setbacks.
The Bills have no need to rush Hamlin back onto the field. The team returns starting safeties Jordan Poyer, who recently re-signed to a new deal to remain in Buffalo, as well as Micah Hyde, who missed most of last season with a foot injury. Hyde’s injury was what pushed Hamlin into a starting role. With Hyde's expected return to the field for 2023-24, Hamlin will be allowed to work his way back into the fold without the pressure or need to perform as one of the team’s top two safeties.
However long it takes for Hamlin to return to 100 percent health, a resumption of NFL play by the safety would be nothing short of a shining outcome given what happened in January.
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