Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin’s miraculous comeback reached another milestone on Monday when he made the first interception of his career.
Hamlin intercepted a pass from Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence late in the second quarter. Lawrence threw Brian Thomas Jr.’s pass too far and Hamlin was ready to receive the errant pass.
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Just a few plays later, the Bills scored their fourth touchdown.
Hamlin is in his fourth season with Buffalo, but this is his first season as a starting safety. He earned the spot in training camp after the Bills parted ways with their previous starting safeties during the offseason.
Over the past two weeks, Hamlin has played the vast majority of Buffalo’s defensive snaps and had a total of 14 tackles through Monday.
Hamlin’s first career interception came 20 months after his near-fatal injury against the Cincinnati Bengals, also a Monday Night Football game. In January 2023, Hamlin collapsed after a tackle and went into cardiac arrest. He was resuscitated on the field before being taken to the hospital. He later said he had a bout of commotio cordis, a condition that causes a disruption in the heartbeat after a blow to the chest.
“It’s one thing to recover from a torn ACL or a broken bone. It’s a whole other thing to recover from what he recovered from, right?” Bills coach Sean McDermott said before the team’s season opener. “Not to mention that he chose to play football and contact football in full gear at the NFL level. I don’t think I need to say anything else. It’s unbelievable.”
Hamlin will be eligible to play football in April 2023. He played in just five games for Buffalo last season, recording two tackles despite playing primarily on special teams. During Buffalo’s divisional round playoff game against the Kansas City Chiefs, he took a direct snap on a fake punt attempt in the fourth quarter but was unable to convert it into a first down.
The Bills went into Monday’s game with a 2-0 lead.
