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Alaina GetzenbergESPN
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — As Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin continues his road to recovery, he has begun spending more time at the team’s facility.
Coach Sean McDermott said Wednesday that Hamlin was there “almost daily,” visiting on Tuesday and Wednesday.
“It’s limited, just overall,” McDermott said of what Hamlin has been doing. “But he comes in and really just started really today or yesterday and just trying to get back to a little bit of a routine and just get himself acclimated again and taking it one step, one baby step at a time here.”
He has not been participating in team meetings but is “kind of get himself dipping his toe back in here and you know, getting on the road to just getting back to himself,” McDermott said.
Hamlin was not in attendance at the team’s win over the Miami Dolphins to start the playoffs, but he was watching remotely. The 24-year-old first visited the team Saturday at its walk-through before the game, with his parents, Mario and Nina, and his brother, Damir.
Safety Jordan Poyer and center Mitch Morse said that seeing Hamlin in good spirits at the facility has in turn lifted the team’s spirits.
“There’s a lot of reprieve from seeing him and carrying conversations, chewing the fat,” Morse said. “He seems to be, I think, still physically very tired, but the guy’s in great spirits. And that also helps with the recovery process for all of us as well.”
There has been no word yet on if Hamlin will attend Sunday’s AFC divisional playoff game against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Hamlin suffered a medical emergency during the first quarter of the Bills’ Week 17 game in Cincinnati leading the game to be postponed and ultimately cancelled. He spent almost a week at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center recovering from suffering cardiac arrest before flying to Buffalo to spend about two days at Buffalo General Medical Center/Gates Vascular Institute. He was discharged last Wednesday.
While the team is preparing to host the Bengals in the divisional round after experiencing a variety of emotions over the last couple of weeks, McDermott and the players feel that with Hamlin continuing to progress, the team is in a solid place.
“Well, I think the guys are in a good spot,” McDermott said. “Damar’s in the building now, almost starting daily, and so that’s, that’s good news. And as he continues to improve, I think those are, you know, that certainly helps. So that’s gonna be — I mean, that experience — we’ll carry that with us and there’s a challenge to that, but there’s also a lot of good that came from that. And I think right now we need to focus on the positives and the positives that came out of that, as opposed to the other piece of it right now.”
