Bills safety Damar Hamlin inactive for opener vs. Jets
Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin (3) runs in the first half of an NFL preseason football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Pittsburgh, Saturday, Aug. 19, 2023. Credit: Gene Puskar
The Bills did not activate safety Damar Hamlin for Monday night’s opener against the Jets, delaying his return to regular-season action for at least another week.
Hamlin made international headlines on Jan. 2 when he suffered cardiac arrest during a nationally televised game against the Bengals and had to be resuscitated on the field.
He has been participating in practices since spring and played in all three of the Bills’ preseason games. But he was a healthy scratch for the opener.
As a backup safety and special teams player, he got caught up in a numbers game in the Buffalo secondary. He does figure to see action this season as personnel needs shift week to week, but not in Week 1.
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
