Damar Hamlin Cleared to Play Football After Suffering Cardiac Arrest

Damar Hamlin just received some good news about his future in the NFL. On Tuesday, Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane said that Hamlin has been fully cleared to return to playing football. Hamlin, who suffered cardiac arrest during a game against the Cincinnati Bengals in January, saw his last specialist on Friday and is taking part in the team's voluntary workouts this week. The Bills began their voluntary offseason program on Monday. 

"He's fully cleared, he's here and he is of the mindset, he's in a great head space to come back and make his return," Beane said, per ESPN. Beane went on to say that Hamlin visited with multiple specialists since suffering cardiac arrest in Cincinnati, and they all agree he can start playing football again. 

"When he left Cincinnati, he came here, it was Buffalo General [Hospital]," Beane said. "He saw a couple of specialists here in Buffalo and then since then, he's seen three additional specialists, most recently on Friday and they're all in agreement. It's not 2-1 or 3-1 or anything like that. They're all in lockstep of what this was and that he's cleared, resumed full activities just like anyone else who was coming back from an injury or whatever."

Since the incident, Hamlin, 25, has been staying busy in the last couple of months. Along with his charity raising $9 million in the days after going to the hospital, the Bills safety won the NFLPA's Alan Page Community Award. Hamlin was also honored alongside the medical and athletic training staff of the Bills, Bengals and some of the staff from the Univesity of Cincinnati Medical Center at the NFL Honors show and on the field during Super Bowl LVII. 

In February, Hamlin talk about playing football again. "Eventually. That's always the goal, like I said, as a competitor, you know, I'm trying to do things to keep advancing my situation," Hamlin told Michael Strahan in an interview that aired on Fox during the Super Bowl LVII pregame show. "But I'm allowing that to be in God's hands. I'm just thankful he gave me a second chance." Before the cardiac arrest, Hamlin recorded 91 tackles and 1.5 sacks in 15 games during the 2022 season.