The Bills and their medical staff are making plans for Damar Hamlin to meet with additional health experts to assist the safety in making a decision about his future in football, the NFL’s chief medical officer Allen Sills said Friday.
Speaking with reporters during a videoconference ahead of Super Bowl LVII, Sills said he does not know at this point if Hamlin, 24, plans to seek a return to football after he went into cardiac arrest and had to be resuscitated on the field during an early January game between the Bills and the Bengals.
“This is about a player and a patient and about getting the very best care,” Sills said, per The Washington Post. “And, again, I do want to protect the privacy of those involved. But what I would say is I know that the Buffalo Bills have already engaged a number of outside consultants and will continue to do so. And they’ll gather opinions and then, [with] all of those opinions, they’ll sit down with Mr. Hamlin, his family, his agents, all the people that love him and lay that out.
“And that’s what we do in medicine every day is say, ‘Here’s our understanding of risks. Here’s our understanding of the situation. Let us make sure that you have all the information and make a good decision.’ And ultimately that is the decision.”
Sills made clear that the league is not leading the arrangement of meetings with outside medical personnel. He also reiterated that a decision about whether or not to return to the NFL will be made by Hamlin and his advisers, without any further permission needed from the NFL and the NFL Players Association.
“It’s his decision,” Sills said. “And he is the person that will need to drive that decision, and then we’ll all line up and support that. So I think that’s something to happen down the road. I think right now the focus is on his recovery and his continued improvement. And then there will be another day and time to discuss all that.
“But it will be strictly led by him and those that are close to him. And the Buffalo medical staff, I know, has, as I said, already engaged and will engage a lot of experts to help provide input and opinions into that process.”
After his collapse during the Week 17 game in Cincinnati, Hamlin spent time at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center before he was transferred to a Buffalo-area hospital. He has since been released and has continued his recovery at home.
Just this week, Hamlin received a standing ovation and delivered an emotional speech at the NFL Honors ceremony. He didn’t address his playing future, but Thom Mayer– medical director for the NFL Players Association–said Wednesday that he’s extremely confident Hamlin will play football again.
When asked about Sills’s latest comments, Hamlin’s agent Ira Turner said that the 24-year-old and his team are focused fully on his recovery at this time.
“At this time we are only focusing on Damar’s health and ensuring that he makes a full recovery,” Turner told the Post via email. “Any decisions as it pertains to football will be made by Damar when he is ready to do so.”
