BREAKING: Bills' Damar Hamlin Loses Comeback Player of the Year Award Race to Browns QB Joe Flacco
Thirteen months after suffering cardiac arrest in the field of play and facing a near-death experience, Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin has since risen to national fame, using his inspired presence to impact countless of people while also returning to life as a professional athlete.
His return to the football field has been won't be recognized with an all-time award, but that pales in comparison to the gift of life.
Hamlin was not named the 2023 Comeback Player of the Year. Instead, Cleveland Browns quarterback Joe Flacco was announced as the winner on Thursday during NFL Honors. He beat out a five-man race that included Hamlin and three other quarterbacks in Los Angeles Rams' Matthew Stafford, Miami Dolphins' Tua Tagovailoa and Tampa Bay Buccaneers' Baker Mayfield.
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Hamlin played in just five games and was inactive for the other 12 during the regular season but suited up for both playoff games due to Buffalo's injuries in the secondary. He got most of his work in on special teams during the season, finishing with two total tackles and one carry for two yards.
Hamlin would have been the second player in franchise history (QB Doug Flutie, 1998) to win the award. He was seen as a potential runaway favorite to win it this season for simply being on the team, but the resurgence of the Browns and Flacco made it a tight two-man race midway through the season.
Flacco actually endorsed Hamlin for the award in a prior interview with CBS Sports.
"I just think mentally to get yourself back to the point where you feel comfortable doing that kind of thing, obviously the physical part doesn't need any explanation, but the mental part, especially at his position, is pretty cool," Flacco said.
Hamlin will enter the fourth and final year of his rookie contract next season after being a sixth-round pick by the Bills in 2021.
