"Not for the NFL to celebrate" - NFL analyst blasts league's handling of Damar Hamlin ahead of Bills star's return
Damar Hamlin has had the support of NFL fans as they have rallied and prayed for hs recovery. It seems those prayers have been answered as he's been cleared to participate in football activities.
While many celebrated the news, ESPN NFL analyst Dominique Foxworth wasn't one of them.
Foxworth appeared on Bomani Jones' show "The Right Time" and stated that the league shouldn't be celebrating Hamlin's return to playing football once again:
"Because everything about Damar Hamlin, if I'm being completely honest, it's about me. It's about how I feel. Watching them celebrate him in the playoffs like this is not a celebratory story to me. This is not like at least not for football, this is not for the NFL to celebrate.
"This is for Damar Hamlin to celebrate, his family to celebrate, the emergency workers and training staff that sent him to celebrate. But it felt weird for me, for the NFL and Tony Romo like, look at Damar Hamlin throwing up the heart sign. It felt weird and this all feels strange to me. And even when it happened. ... I felt for Damar himself.
"I think twice about Damar Hamlin before that day, but that night I felt for him. But I was really feeling for me and really for everybody else that I know that was watching it.
"I guess that's what's going through my mind again is like, 'yeah, it's his life, he can do what he wants with it.' But for me it's going to be hard. It's going to be real hard for me to watch football."
Hamlin's announcement came over three-and-a-half months after his collapse when the Buffalo Bills faced the Cincinnati Bengals.
The road to recovery hasn't been easy for Hamlin, but it seems he's ready to return to the game that he loves.
Damar Hamlin's journey to an NFL return
Hamlin was taken to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center by ambulance. Days later, Hamlin started communicating and asked one of the doctors if Buffalo had won the game.
The doctor told Hamlin "you’ve won the game of life."
He was still in critical condition before he was taken off the ventilator on January 6. Hamlin was able to talk to his teammates and coaches that same day. On January 9, the defensive back was discharged from the Cincinnati hospital and taken to a hospital in Buffalo to continue his recovery.
The Bills star was released from the Buffalo hospital two days later and met his teammates in person on January 14.
Hamlin was in attendance when the Bills faced the Bengals at home in the Divisional round of the playoffs. Buffalo lost 27-10 in the driving snow.
Ahead of Super Bowl 57, he was on the field with the medical staff of the Bills, Bengals, and UC Medical Center:
Last month, Hamlin met with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick to discuss a bill. The bill would elevate access to defibrillators in public elementary and secondary schools. He also met with President Joe Biden while in Washington.
NFL fans are excited to see Damar Hamlin back on the field in the upcoming season in his No. 3 jersey.