Buffalo Bills safety, Damar Hamlin has been cleared to return to the football field four months after suffering an on-field cardiac arrest and being resuscitated by emergency responders.
Bills general manager Brandon Beane made the announcement on Tuesday April 18, saying that Hamlin is with the team at the moment working out at the Bills’ facility in Orchard Park, New York.
‘They’re all in agreement,’ Beane said of Hamlin’s doctors. ‘It’s not 2-1 or 3-1 or anything like that. They’re all in lock step with what this was and that he is cleared to resume full activities just like anyone else who was coming back from an injury or whatever. He’s fully cleared, he’s here and he is in a great headspace to come back and make his return.’
Hamlin had previously said he hopes to return to the game, despite his near-death experience playing for the Bills in Cincinnati in early January.
The Bills begin off-season organized team activities (OTAs) on May 22, when Hamlin could be in uniform for the first time since his cardiac arrest.
The team will hold minicamp from June 13 through 15. The NFL’s 2023 preseason games begin on August 3 with the season openers scheduled for September 7.
‘We’re super excited for Damar,’ Bills head coach Sean McDermott said Tuesday. ‘He’s moving forward one step at a time here. He’s been cleared from a physical standpoint. We’ll provide all the mental help we can from a mind, body and spirit standpoint. Just happy for him that he’s been able to check some of those boxes to this point, and we’re moving forward, but taking it one day at a time.’
Hamlin needed to be resuscitated on the field in Cincinnati before being rushed to a local hospital for emergency surgery on January 2, and has since undergone months of rehabilitation as his NFL future remains up in the air.
