Field Level Media - Professional sports content solutions | FLM

Damar Hamlin expects to be inactive Monday when the Buffalo Bills visit the New York Jets in the primetime Week 1 finale.

ESPN and NFL Network reported Hamlin wouldn’t get the call with the Bills opting for Taylor Rapp and Cam Lewis as the primary backups at safety.

Hamlin, 25, is healthy and cleared to play nine months after going into cardiac arrest on the field at Cincinnati in January.

Hamlin was second on the team in tackles in the preseason and Bills coach Sean McDermott celebrated naming him to the 53-man active roster for the 2023 season.

Last week at a charity event, Hamlin said he’ll never take being on the team for granted.

“Every year, so many people who don’t get the opportunity to make the team that you have to show respect for it when you do and you can never take it for granted because, the NFL, they say it stands for ‘not for long.’ So, to be able to go through my situation and then be able to come back and still show that I can still do it is super big and it means a lot to me and my family,” he said.

If starting safety Micah Hyde winds up as a pregame scratch due to his nagging back issues, Hamlin could still be active. Hyde and Jordan Poyer both missed games last year when Hamlin started 13 games.

–Field Level Media