Bills players didn’t know ahead of time that Damar Hamlin would join a team meeting via FaceTime on Friday.
But when head coach Sean McDermott told the players he had a “treat in store,” he could see the look on their faces in “anticipation of what was probably coming.”
When Hamlin appeared on the screen, players stood up and started clapping. They yelled, too. Hamlin made hand signals and gestures — like a heart symbol — and flexed both biceps for his teammates. And somewhere in the middle of that, McDermott said during a press conference Friday, Hamlin told his teammates, “I love you boys.”
“Probably won’t be able to do it justice, honestly, with the words,” McDermott said when asked about hearing Hamlin’s voice after the 24-year-old safety suffered cardiac arrest and collapsed on the field during the Bill’s game at Cincinnati. “Amazing. Touching.”
It was the latest in a heartwarming string of positive developments for Hamlin. The Bills announced earlier in the day that Hamlin’s breathing tube had been removed overnight. He gradually awoke from medically induced sedation Wednesday night and communicated in writing — first asking who won the game between Cincinnati and Buffalo. His father, Mario, spoke to the Bills on Wednesday.
But actually seeing Hamlin’s face on the screen “with my own eyes” was something McDermott had looked forward to and needed, he said. Then, he saw the reaction that unfolded across the room throughout the brief call.
“It was a pretty cool exchange for a few seconds there,” McDermott said.
Assistant athletic trainer Tabani Richards, who is in Cincinnati with Hamlin, and director of team administration Matt Worswick helped coordinate the call, McDermott said. They put Hamlin on the big screen in their meeting room so he was “larger than life in there for us.” In addition to the heart symbol and “flexing on them,” Hamlin also gave Bills players a thumbs up.
General manager Brandon Beane, who had stayed in Cincinnati to be with Hamlin, said during a press conference Friday that McDermott initially wanted to stay, too. In the end, they decided to have McDermott back in Buffalo “to lead these coaches and this team and help these guys get through back here,” since they didn’t know how the week would unfold from a scheduling standpoint. How McDermott guided the Bills is “why I love Sean,” Beane added.
Hamlin’s recovery has united the football community. Throughout the week, Richards kept Beane updated as Hamlin’s toy drive fundraiser kept gathering donations from fans, other NFL players and teams. It crept up to $3 million, then, $4 million. It had surpassed $8 million by Friday evening.
During what Beane called a “laughable moment,” Hamlin’s mother, Nina, told the general manager, “Man, he just wanted $2,500 for this thing.”
“You’re going to be passing out cars next year,” Beane recalled replying. “not toys.”
“It’s going to be exciting to see how excited Damar is about what he can do,” Beane continued in the press conference, “because that’s who Damar is. He’s so selfless, and he’s always got a smile.”
Hamlin collapsed on the field and went into cardiac arrest Monday night after tackling Bengals receiver Tee Higgins. The second-year player had CPR administered on the field before he was transported to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center.
The Bills will host the Patriots on Sunday in their regular-season finale.
