Seven months following a cardiac arrest caused by a hit during an NFL game, Damar Hamlin secured a spot on the Buffalo Bills' initial 53-man roster on Tuesday.
With teams required to trim their squads to 53 on Tuesday, the 25-year-old defensive back made the cut, having hit every benchmark on his path back to the league.
His return was far from assured after the frightening scenes of Jan. 2 in Cincinnati, when Hamlin tackled Bengals receiver Tee Higgins and seconds later collapsed on the field.
Emergency medical workers restored his heartbeat on the field and he was taken to a nearby hospital; the game halted and was never completed.
Hamlin later moved to a Buffalo hospital and, only nine days after his cardiac arrest, was released.
In April, he said doctors found a blow to the chest had caused his heart to stop, a rare condition called commotio cordis.
Since being cleared to return to football activities, Hamlin has progressed through off-season practice and his first game action in a preseason contest against Indianapolis on Aug. 12.
The 25-year-old hopes to play a regular role in his third season in the league.
A flurry of kicker trades preceded the deadline for teams to trim their rosters to 53.
The New England Patriots sent kicker Nick Folk to the Tennessee Titans on Tuesday in exchange for a 2025 seventh-round draft pick.
Folk, 38, has made 108 of his 121 field goal attempts since 2019 and is the NFL's fourth-leading active scorer with 1,517 career points.
The deal follows the Cleveland Browns' trade for kicker Dustin Hopkins from the Los Angeles Chargers and the Denver Broncos' acquisition of Wil Lutz from the New Orleans Saints.
Other roster cuts on Tuesday saw the Philadelphia Eagles waiving two-time Olympic hurdler Devon Allen. However, the 28-year-old speedster could be a candidate to return to the Eagles practice squad, where he spent all of last season.
The Chargers released quarterback Max Duggan, a Heisman Trophy runner-up while with Texas Christian University, although he, too, could find himself back on the team's practice squad.
Patriots coach Bill Belichick noted that while Tuesday's roster cuts make for a difficult day, being cut is not necessarily the end of the road for a player – even with the team that cut him.
"The process is far from over," Belichick said. "Not all the players that you would ask about who are not here are not necessarily not going to be back here."
