Bills safety Damar Hamlin is breathing on his own once again after collapsing and receiving CPR on the field 10 days ago.

Monday, January 2 brought a much-anticipated matchup between the Bills and the Bengals. With both teams fighting for the top seed in the AFC, it looked to be one of the most impactful games of the season.

In the first quarter, with the Bengals leading 7-3, Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins caught a pass and ran right into the body of Hamlin, who tackled him accordingly. It was a very standard football play, but it did not have a standard result.

Hamlin stood up quickly and immediately began to stumble before falling over onto his back, motionless. Hamlin remained in this position on the field for upwards of ten minutes as paramedics administered CPR and used a defibrillator, as it seemed Hamlin had gone into sudden cardiac arrest. Hamlin was then driven from the 50-yard line to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center where he remained for over a week. He was unconscious for about two days before waking up. He finally went home after nine days in the hospital.

Hamlin is 24 years old. He grew up in McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, just outside of Pittsburgh. He attended high school at Central Catholic High School in Pittsburgh where he was an All-State football player. Hamlin stayed with his roots and played collegiately at the University of Pittsburgh and was drafted by the Bills in the sixth round of the 2021 NFL Draft.

He leads the Bills in tackles this season with 91. Hamlin has succeeded at every level, which has granted him the opportunity to make millions playing the sport he loves. Hundreds of thousands of young kids dream of replicating Hamlin’s path. And yet, this sought-after path put Hamlin’s life in jeopardy.

Football is widely known to be a more physically taxing sport than others. It’s commonplace to see a player carted or carried off the field in a given game. It’s almost a surprise when that doesn’t happen. This has been highlighted this year by frightening head injuries to Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, Bills running back Nyheim Hines, and Titans wide receiver Treylon Burks.

Despite these recent incidents, senior football player Ben Barth notes the improvement that has been shown in dealing with incidents like these in recent years.

“Over the past five to ten years, the NFL has taken great steps to improve player safety, specifically pertaining to head injuries and concussions,” Ben said.

Concussions since 2015 have declined from 275 to only about 140 this season. New helmets and rules protecting players have played a great role in this.

What makes the Damar Hamlin incident so scary is the fact that it could happen to anyone, while at the same time the NFL can’t do much to prevent similar instances as it was such an isolated event.

For players around the league and around the world, specifically Bills and Bengals players, it can’t be easy going back out there knowing first-hand what could happen. Senior football fan Xander Calianos reluctantly approved of the NFL’s decisions surrounding Hamlin’s collapse.

“In relativity to how they have handled other stuff, they did a decent job. They let the coaches cancel the game, which holistically seems to be the right choice,” Xander said.

The NFL has been often criticized for their questionable decision making, which includes the existence of Thursday Night Football. Players specifically tend to oppose it from a safety standpoint. Former player, Richard Sherman has called Thursday Night Football a “poopfest” and added that he is only “50-60%” recovered on Thursdays.

Despite The NFL’s poor history of respect to players, they stepped up at an important time and eventually cancelled the Bills vs. Bengals game. The Bills returned to the field Sunday against the Patriots and opened the game with a kick return touchdown. It was a surreal moment that brought Damar Hamlin to his feet at the hospital. He set off multiple alarms.