Sean McDermott details how Damar Hamlin has grown this offseason

We all remember when Damar Hamlin collapsed on the field in Cincinnati and how the Buffalo Bill safety nearly died before he arrived at a downtown hospital.

It seemed like a miracle happened when Hamlin got off life support, then back home to Buffalo within a week of that Monday Night Football game in early January, 2023. NFL fans were behind him as he took steps back towards his career as a Bills safety or revisited the first responders who saved his life after his heart stopped.

But overall, Hamlin didn’t play much football last fall. In fact, he played only a fraction of snaps in the Bills secondary last fall. That may be changing. Reporters covering Buffalo’s OTAs and minicamp have pointed out how active Hamlin has been around the ball.

Bills coach Sean McDermott was effusive in his praise of Hamlin, the one-time star and captain of the Pitt Panthers.

“He’s very, very focused in getting himself into a really good spot,” McDermott told reporters this week. “I think with not only knowing the defense, but just getting back to playing, detail oriented and fast.”

Hamlin is headed into his fourth season in Buffalo. He’s in the final year of his rookie contract, so he needs to up his game to impress his current team as well as others who’d like to sign him next March.

But he’ll need to see the field more. He played only 17 defensive snaps last fall. For context, the Bills safety was in on 846 defensive plays the season before. In 2022, the Bills had several defensive backs go down with injury, which allowed Hamlin to see more playing time. Those guys are healthy now. Thse days, Hamlin is competing with veteran Taylor Rapp and Cole Bishop, the Bills’ second-round pick in April. Plus backup safeties Dee Delaney and Mike Edwards also want to see the field more.

Hamlin also has had time away from the Bills to work with his Chasing M’s Foundation. He created the foundation back when he was in college. It exploded in growth in the hours after his cardiac arrest, as NFL fans wanted to help.

Hamlin was in Pittsburgh, his hometown, last weekend for a series of camps, all-star and celebrity games to promote the foundation During all of them, he placed emphasis on young folks learning how to give CPR and save a life.

It seemed appropriate that Hamlin launched a wild, three-point shot at the buzzer to win the celebrity basketball game.