Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane announced Tuesday morning that Damar Hamlin has been cleared to play football again after suffering a cardiac arrest during a game four months ago.
“They’re all in agreement,” Beane said, referring to Hamlin’s team of 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.”
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Per GM Brandon Beane, Damar Hamlin has been cleared to resume full football activities.@HamlinIsland is in Buffalo and in a great headspace. ❤️💙 pic.twitter.com/wa2ZfGm8mX
— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) April 18, 2023
The 25-year-old NFL player had previously expressed his hope to play football again despite experiencing a cardiac arrest in early January.
Hamlin needed to be resuscitated on the field and received CPR before being rushed to a local hospital for emergency surgery on January 2. After being revived, he spent months in rehabilitation while fans wondered if he would ever play professionally again.
Several weeks later, Bills head coach Sean McDermott said Hamlin had been at the practice facility “almost daily” and was “just trying to get back to a little bit of a routine.”
Beane also addressed the possibility of Hamlin’s return in February.
“If we’re able to get full clearance and he feels he’s ready to do it, that’s another big smile of a story,” the manager said at the time. “Not only that he’s just got his life back, but that he’d have his football career back. I would love to give the storybook ending that he’s definitely going to play, but we just don’t know that yet. But if he does, we’ll be very happy for him.”
A doctor with the NFL Players Association also predicted that Hamlin would end up back on the field.
“I guarantee you that Damar Hamlin will play professional football again,” Mayer told a caller during his appearance on SiriusXM Doctor Radio’s “Heart to Heart” program in February.
Doctors have apparently been astounded by Hamlin’s quick and remarkable recovery considering the seriousness of his condition.
If he wants to play, he should play.