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BUFFALO, N.Y. — The first thing that you need to know about Damar Hamlin’s comeback is that it’s not complete. It’s still happening for the Buffalo Bills safety over a year after suffering cardiac arrest during a game against the Cincinnati Bengals.
While a season back in the NFL was completed amid the many significant steps of Hamlin’s recovery, that journey is ongoing.
“My focus was just coming back. That was the hardest part,” Hamlin told ESPN at the end of January, while speaking as part of a promotion for Bounty’s “Ultimate Wingmen” campaign along with teammate Dane Jackson. “… Just growing and trying to get back to
myself, and then … trying to rebuild myself into something that I haven’t been yet.
Hamlin, 25, who won the Pro Football Writers of America’s Comeback Player of the Year award last month, is one of five finalists for the Associated Press’ Comeback Player of the Year award given out during NFL Honors on Thursday night in Las Vegas (9 p.m. EST, CBS/NFL Network). It’s an award with no definition as the Associated Press confirmed that voters (50 nationwide reporters who cover the league) are not given a guide as to what qualifies for the award.
MLB awards it to a player in each league “who has re-emerged on the field during the season.” Pitcher Liam Hendriks was one of the 2023 winners after a return to the field after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma and later announcing he was cancer free. He played only five games because of a separate injury.
The award doesn’t exist in the NBA anymore. It was phased out after six years in the 1980s because of difficulties clarifying its requirements.
In the NHL, the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy goes to “to the National Hockey League player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to hockey.”
While Thursday’s trophy will go to one player, an award can’t capture what Hamlin has been through from both a physical and mental perspective. Hamlin was cleared to play in April, and chose to do so after visiting with a variety of heart specialists around the country. Then he earned a spot on the Buffalo Bills’ 53-man roster and contributed to five regular-season and two playoff games as a special teams player and backup safety. All that while contending with eyes and attention that hadn’t existed previously for the third-year player.
Putting on the jersey and pads for his first regular-season game back in Week 4 was an accomplishment in itself. In November, he had a special moment back on the field in Cincinnati despite not being active for the game, taking time after a Bills loss to walk around the field by himself and kneel near where he collapsed. He later posted to social media, “Tonight was everything for me.. y’all don’t know the half of it. Trust me.”
What Hamlin went through mentally is something that can’t be judged externally.
“What happened to me, it was [so] random, and it was any moment,” Hamlin said during training camp when asked about taking hits. “But that feeling, you know, it’ll never go away. First day, last day, when I retire — it’ll never go away. But like I said, man, my faith is stronger than … that fear that’s in there. And when I hit that field, I’m not thinking twice. … But those feelings will be in there forever, and I’m not afraid to say that.”
