Orchard Park, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550/WBEN) - It has been 611 days since Bills safety Damar Hamlin took to the field as a starter on the Buffalo defense. That last game he got the start in happened to be the night he went into cardiac arrest on the field of Paycor Stadium in Cincinnati in a "Monday Night Football" showdown with the Bengals.
Prior to Wednesday's practice in Orchard Park, Bills head coach Sean McDermott said it was Hamlin who will be in line to start this coming Sunday in the 2024 season opener against the Arizona Cardinals at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park.
"What else can't this young man do? I mean, he basically went through what he went through on the field. To come back from that, 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 in full pads at the NFL level. I don't think I need to say anything more. I mean, it's incredible," said McDermott on Wednesday. "I think God's hands have been on Damar and his family and will continue to be. And we're just extremely proud and full of gratitude to watch him go through what he's went through and where he is now."
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Hamlin will get the start on Sunday opposite of Taylor Rapp, who takes over as a starting safety in his just his second season with the Bills.
McDermott attributes his decision to make Hamlin a starter at safety for the season opener to the consistency he put up in training camp and the preseason with the opportunity presented to him.
"The opportunity that was there, he took advantage of it and was consistent, built a certain level of rapport with 'T-Rapp', and that's important as well at the safety position," McDermott explained. "Watching those two communicate, I'm anxious to watch both of them play this weekend."
Hamlin's teammates share in the excitement of his return to the starting lineup.
Bills quarterback Josh Allen has gotten a good glimpse of the work Hamlin has put in to get back to the player he was before his cardiac arrest, and where he's currently at with the Buffalo defense.
"I think he's, in a sense, putting that behind him and moving forward, and playing the best football he can play in helping this team win. Got so much love and respect for him," said Allen following Wednesday's practice in Orchard Park. "It's unbelievable to do what he's done. We've got everybody on this team and in the city rooting for him. It's a pretty cool story."
As for the other captain on the defensive side of the football, linebacker Terrel Bernard knows what Hamlin is capable of doing at the highest level of the game. He believes it's his confidence within the defense and his mentality that will help him bounce back when it comes game day.
"He's a very smart football player, and we all trust him, and he trusts us," said Bernard after practice on Wednesday. "I think having that communication daily and spending time watching tape together, it ends up becoming second nature so when we're out there, we're flowing, we're playing, and all of our communication is solid and crisp. Once you get to that level, you're kind of out there just playing."
For Hamlin, he calls this opportunity to get back on the field in a starting capacity a blessing.
"I reflect back on the whole process and not knowing if I would even be able to play again. Sitting in that uncertainty was eating at me. It was really eating at me, because football is truly my passion. It's the thing that I've always been obsessed with my entire life," said Hamlin following Wednesday's practice. "But it just all 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. It truly allows you to conquer anything of what you're facing."
On his road to recovery from his cardiac arrest on Jan. 2, 2023, Hamlin says his season last year was about healing and coming back to who he was and who he was trying to become.
"I thank everybody in this building, from the top down, for supporting me and giving me the space to allow me to heal, and have my process exactly how I needed it to go. It truly propelled me into allowing myself to be free this season," Hamlin said. "Last season was primarily just about healing and making myself do the hard stuff, thrusting myself into things that were uncomfortable, that maybe were fearful or gave me anxiety. But I was doing the hard stuff last year to make it easier this year."
After appearing in 29 games over his first two seasons with the Bills, which included 13 starts in 2022, Hamlin only appeared in five games for the Bills last season, playing mostly on special teams.
From a football standpoint, Hamlin points to a quote that he focused on that helped get him in the right mindset this upcoming season to get him back to a first-team player on the Buffalo defense: "Consistency is the true mark of greatness."
"I wrote that quote down on a sticky note. I write all my quotes down on sticky notes and stick them all over my bathroom so as I wake up in the morning and do whatever I need to do, I'm reminding myself of the things I want to take with me for the day," Hamlin noted. "Consistency being the mark of true greatness is something that resonates well with me. I got to watch some of the greats do the same thing I'm doing right now, and I watched them be consistent in their processes. So I'm truly being process oriented, and I'm trying to make my process at a championship level, day-in and day-out."
Hamlin acknowledges it's hard to pinpoint just one person that helped him on his journey towards getting back to the field as a Day 1 starter with the Bills.
"The coaches, Micah [Hyde], Jordan [Poyer], they're probably the main two that I got to give credit to," he said. "Whether it was hands-on or not, I was learning, I was a sponge. It wasn't hard to come in and just watch and just learn. Them too, primarily, and the guys up front, Von [Miller]. Just a lot of the true leaders. I'm blessed to have 'K-Jack' [Kareem Jackson] in the building now, 15 years of experience. I'm picking his brain as much as I can. But there's always something you can learn from anybody. Filter out what you need and let the other stuff fly by."
As time continues to pass longer since his cardiac arrest in Cincinnati, Hamlin admits he thinks about the incident all the time as he grows and evolves into a new person.
"As much as the world experienced it, it happened to me. So I think about it all the time," Hamlin acknowledged. "There's moments, but I enjoy that part of it, because it allows me to stay connected with the reason why I'm here and my true purpose, and to know that I'm blessed [for] many reasons. I have a second chance at doing things the right way in all areas of my life. So the more that I think about that, the more that it connects me to my blessings of why I'm here. I would never want to disrespect my blessings, so I take this opportunity and this process super serious."
As Hamlin now gets ready to prepare for Sunday against the Cardinals, he says he's grown very comfortable playing with Rapp in the Buffalo secondary.
"'T-Rapp' is a leader, he's a vet. He's been in the league a long time, and he's seen success at the highest level in this league. People that have played 20 years don't reach the success that he has in this league at one point," Hamlin said of the 26-year-old. "We've built chemistry for these past two seasons behind the scenes, day-in, day-out, just being with the twos, or whatever the case may be. As we work through this year, just getting on the same page, it was pretty much easy because he takes his game serious, he takes his process serious, and so do I. So we just pass reminders back-and-forth, and then we just go focus on making plays."
While Hamlin says it's a dream come true to be back in this position after the hard work he's put in over the last several months, he wants much more to come from this journey.
"It's not about just performing in one game. I want to be able to take my process and make it allow me to be successful the entire run. So I'm head-down, just focused on doing my 1/11, and making sure that I'm doing everything I need to do to help our defense be successful," Hamlin said.
The Bills and Cardinals will kick off the 2024 season on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET.