One of the NFL’s feel-good stories in recent years was witnessing Damar Hamlin’s miraculous return from his frightening cardiovascular issue against the Cincinnati Bengals on January 2, 2023. Hamlin became a household name after this incident.

Damar Hamlin’s remarkable comeback story continues into the start of a new NFL season with a return to the position he held in the Buffalo Bills secondary before his heart-stopping setback on the football field less than two years ago.

A year after making the cut to successfully resume his football career following a near-death experience, Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin reached a new plateau in his comeback in being selected a season-opening starter on Wednesday.

Damar Hamlin returned for the 2023 season, but this year, he’s truly back in action. On Wednesday, Buffalo Bills coach Sean McDermott announced that Hamlin will be in the starting lineup for Week 1.

They signed free agent Mike Edwards, who won Super Bowls with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Chiefs, drafted Utah safety Cole Bishop in the second round, added 15th-year veteran Kareem Jackson in training camp and kept the door open for Hyde to return instead of retire.

Damar Hamlin will start at safety for the Buffalo Bills in their season-opening clash with the Arizona Cardinals, just 20 months on from his on-field cardiac arrest

Hamlin is listed as one of the two starting safeties on the Bills’ official depth chart, and when reporters asked head coach Sean McDermott about Hamlin’s status, he praised what Hamlin has done in the year and a half since he went into cardiac arrest on the field in a game in Cincinnati.