Buffalo Payments security Damar Hamlin not too long ago spoke with Paulina Dedaj of Fox Information Digital about finishing a dramatic return to NFL motion and being named a finalist to win the 2023 Related Press Comeback Participant of the Yr Award.
“I say this very humbly. I am a humble particular person, nevertheless it seems like one thing aligned,” Hamlin defined.
Hamlin, after all, almost misplaced his life when he went into cardiac arrest throughout a “Monday Night time Soccer” sport on the Cincinnati Bengals on Jan. 2, 2023.
The 25-year-old finally determined to proceed his energetic enjoying profession, and he later earned a spot on Buffalo’s 53-man roster in August. He then made his official regular-season return within the membership’s Week 4 sport towards the Miami Dolphins.
“All of the steps that it took getting again to enjoying soccer — offseason, season, coaching camp, placing the helmet on — all of that was a course of,” Hamlin advised Dedaj. “And it is nonetheless a course of, and I believe it should perpetually be a course of so long as I resolve to proceed to play. However I am constructed for it. The place we come from and the issues that we overcame to even make it to the NFL, we’re all testimonial tales.”
In complete, Hamlin appeared in 5 regular-season video games and Buffalo’s two playoff contests. The Professional Soccer Writers of America introduced final week that Hamlin received that group’s NFL Comeback Participant of the Yr Award for the marketing campaign, and he’s anticipated to obtain the AP award on the NFL Honors ceremony on Feb. 8.
Per John Wawrow of the Related Press, Hamlin and Payments cornerback Dane Jackson have been longtime mates going again to their days rising up within the Pittsburgh space. Jackson advised Dedaj that Hamlin has been “my wingman my total life.”
It stays to be seen if Hamlin has a long-term future on energetic rosters, however he is already cemented himself as one of many optimistic sports activities tales of the 2020s.