Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin became a larger-than-life icon after the unfortunate Monday Night Football incident from 2022 where he suffered a cardiac arrest, putting his life in serious jeopardy.
Since then, Hamlin has made the ultimate comeback as he's continued his football career while also taking his charity work to a whole new level away from the gridiron.
Oddly, however, Hamlin's football career has been heavily scrutinized since then as many question if he's a good enough player to have a significant role on the Bills defense or not, let alone be a starter.
Well, in the very first day of training camp, the coaching staff sent a strong message: According to Bills insider Sal Capaccio, Hamlin is "currently playing with the first team defense at safety."
There's no question Hamlin will face a ton of competition for the starting role as second-round rookie Cole Bishop and Mike Edwards are viable starters. But for Damar to start the race ahead of them is huge and he's surely putting his teammates on notice that the starting role isn't to be taken away from him that easily.
To put into context how notable Hamlin being on the first-team is consider this: OurLads' unofficial depth chart had Hamlin as a third-teamer, which is more or less what many in the Bills Mafia were expecting him to be.
Keep in mind, Hamlin was in the running to be a starter before the unfortunate hit he took versus the Cincinnati Bengals. It is certainly not out of the question that a full offseason could land him a starting role on Sean McDermott's defense.
He'll have to earn it and it won't be too easy but don't rule out Hamlin pulling off yet another remarkable feat as we approach the 2024 NFL season.
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