"On January 2nd, Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin suffered a Cardiac arrest after Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver, Tee Higgins slammed into Hamlin, then Hamlin pulled both of them to the ground. Hamlin stood up afterward but a few seconds later collapsed and was immediately surrounded by his teammates and team doctors." -- Rafi Ponet, 7th grade
Hamlin lay on the field for 19 minutes needing both CPR and an automated external defibrillator. The remainder of the game was postponed and later canceled.
In NFL history there have been incidents similar and unfortunately even worse than Hamlin’s. For example, Chuck Hughes, a second string wide receiver was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in the 1967 draft. He would go on to play three seasons with Philadelphia but at the beginning of the 1970 season was traded to the Detroit Lions.
The problems started for Hughes in a preseason game against the Buffalo Bills. After the game, Hughes collapsed in the locker room and was immediately hospitalized. He would eventually return to play for the team and all seemed to forget the incident. But, in a game against the Chicago Bears, one of Detroit's starting wide receivers Larry Walton was injured causing Hughes to come into the game. He made a 32 yard catch putting the Detroit Lions at the 37 yard line. Then, with under one minute to go, a pass was launched over his head and incomplete. As Hughes walked over to the huddle, he collapsed onto the field, dead. He had suffered a heart attack with his team trailing by five in the last few minutes of play.. But no one cared about the game anymore. This was more important than any football game ever was or will be, because they had just witnessed someone die. The game was later canceled as neither team wanted to keep playing.
Sadly, there have been even more examples of this.
On August 1st, 2001, Minnesota Vikings offensive linemen, Korey Stringer, died due to a heat stroke and organ failure. On July 30th, he was unable to practice during training camp, because of exhaustion. He did the morning practice the next day, despite vomiting three times in the process. But due to the extreme temperatures he suffered the heat stroke and sadly passed away. The Vikings would retire his number later that season, as a sign that his legacy will never be forgotten.
Although instances similar to Hamlin’s have happened, none have been quite like his. Hamlin suffered his cardiac arrest during a Monday Night Football Game which was the “most watched Monday Night Football game in ESPN history.” Across ESPN, ESPN2, and ABC over 23 million people watched the game. In Hughes and Stringer’s cases not nearly as many people saw their deaths, as Stringer’s tragedy happened during training camp and Hughe’s happened over 50 years ago. Meanwhile in Hamlin’s situation, sports sites like ESPN talked for hours about what happened and many players and organizations across the [nation or world depending on which is true] spoke on it.
Donovan Mitchell and the Cleveland Cavaliers voiced support to Hamlin in a post-game interview, along with other NBA players like Lebron James, and Steph Curry. In the MLB, the Cincinnati Reds, a team that plays its home games in the city where the Hamlin tragedy happened, put a picture on their scoreboard of Hamlin with the text “Prayers for Damar Hamlin” above it.
In the weeks that have passed since Hamlin collapsed, he has made incredible progress. On January 10th, he was moved to a hospital in Buffalo, and was released from the hospital one day later on January 11th. After being released, Hamlin started coming to the practice facility often. Hamlin even attended Buffalo's 27-10 loss against the Cincinnati Bengals in the divisional round.
Hamlin was seen at the taping of FOX's upcoming season of Masked Singer with his younger brother, Damir. It was his first time speaking to the public since the incident which shows he’s making tons of progress.
All of this brings in the question, will he ever be able to play football again? Hamlin so far has played 29 games in the NFL. In his career he has three QB hits, 65 tackles, 1.5 sacks, 93 combined tackles, and forced one fumble. In 2022 he was tied for 30th in the NFL for solo tackles, and had by far the best season of his two-year career. His career was trending upward as he started in 13 games well the prior season he started none. There is no exact timeline for his return, but some sources say Hamlin might play his first game back as early as next season due to how well his recovery has been going.
So, there is a pretty realistic chance that Hamlin could be able to play football again. But, does he want to? After all that’s happened to him, getting hit by Higgens, collapsing on the field, needing CPR, does Hamlin want to return to the NFL?
Famously, the first words Hamlin spoke when he woke up at the hospital were, “did we win?” This obviously shows a lot about his character as a team player who would probably do a lot to play football. But it’s Hamlins choice whether or not he plays football again, and one that should not be taken lightly due to how much could be on the line.
In NFL history there have been incidents similar and unfortunately even worse than Hamlin’s. For example, Chuck Hughes, a second string wide receiver was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in the 1967 draft. He would go on to play three seasons with Philadelphia but at the beginning of the 1970 season was traded to the Detroit Lions.
The problems started for Hughes in a preseason game against the Buffalo Bills. After the game, Hughes collapsed in the locker room and was immediately hospitalized. He would eventually return to play for the team and all seemed to forget the incident. But, in a game against the Chicago Bears, one of Detroit's starting wide receivers Larry Walton was injured causing Hughes to come into the game. He made a 32 yard catch putting the Detroit Lions at the 37 yard line. Then, with under one minute to go, a pass was launched over his head and incomplete. As Hughes walked over to the huddle, he collapsed onto the field, dead. He had suffered a heart attack with his team trailing by five in the last few minutes of play.. But no one cared about the game anymore. This was more important than any football game ever was or will be, because they had just witnessed someone die. The game was later canceled as neither team wanted to keep playing.
Sadly, there have been even more examples of this.
On August 1st, 2001, Minnesota Vikings offensive linemen, Korey Stringer, died due to a heat stroke and organ failure. On July 30th, he was unable to practice during training camp, because of exhaustion. He did the morning practice the next day, despite vomiting three times in the process. But due to the extreme temperatures he suffered the heat stroke and sadly passed away. The Vikings would retire his number later that season, as a sign that his legacy will never be forgotten.
Although instances similar to Hamlin’s have happened, none have been quite like his. Hamlin suffered his cardiac arrest during a Monday Night Football Game which was the “most watched Monday Night Football game in ESPN history.” Across ESPN, ESPN2, and ABC over 23 million people watched the game. In Hughes and Stringer’s cases not nearly as many people saw their deaths, as Stringer’s tragedy happened during training camp and Hughe’s happened over 50 years ago. Meanwhile in Hamlin’s situation, sports sites like ESPN talked for hours about what happened and many players and organizations across the [nation or world depending on which is true] spoke on it.
Donovan Mitchell and the Cleveland Cavaliers voiced support to Hamlin in a post-game interview, along with other NBA players like Lebron James, and Steph Curry. In the MLB, the Cincinnati Reds, a team that plays its home games in the city where the Hamlin tragedy happened, put a picture on their scoreboard of Hamlin with the text “Prayers for Damar Hamlin” above it.
In the weeks that have passed since Hamlin collapsed, he has made incredible progress. On January 10th, he was moved to a hospital in Buffalo, and was released from the hospital one day later on January 11th. After being released, Hamlin started coming to the practice facility often. Hamlin even attended Buffalo's 27-10 loss against the Cincinnati Bengals in the divisional round.
Hamlin was seen at the taping of FOX's upcoming season of Masked Singer with his younger brother, Damir. It was his first time speaking to the public since the incident which shows he’s making tons of progress.
All of this brings in the question, will he ever be able to play football again? Hamlin so far has played 29 games in the NFL. In his career he has three QB hits, 65 tackles, 1.5 sacks, 93 combined tackles, and forced one fumble. In 2022 he was tied for 30th in the NFL for solo tackles, and had by far the best season of his two-year career. His career was trending upward as he started in 13 games well the prior season he started none. There is no exact timeline for his return, but some sources say Hamlin might play his first game back as early as next season due to how well his recovery has been going.
So, there is a pretty realistic chance that Hamlin could be able to play football again. But, does he want to? After all that’s happened to him, getting hit by Higgens, collapsing on the field, needing CPR, does Hamlin want to return to the NFL?
Famously, the first words Hamlin spoke when he woke up at the hospital were, “did we win?” This obviously shows a lot about his character as a team player who would probably do a lot to play football. But it’s Hamlins choice whether or not he plays football again, and one that should not be taken lightly due to how much could be on the line.