Bills safety Damar Hamlin spent time with Bengals receivers Tee Higgins, Ja’Marr Chase and Tyler Boyd ahead of the 2023 NFL season, according to Boyd’s Instagram post that showed the four NFL players — whose lives overlapped in a scary “Monday Night Football” scene in January — posing next to ATVs.

Boyd captioned the post, “Hot Boyz,” and the location setting for the post was set to “Dessert Safari” as three of them held up three fingers for the number — and hand gesture — that emerged as a defining symbol throughout Hamlin’s recovery after he suffered cardiac arrest during a Jan. 2 game between the Bills and Bengals.

According to the Cincinnati Enquirer, Higgins also added Boyd’s post to his Instagram story.

The incident happened after Higgins made a catch and Hamlin attempted a tackle, and Hamlin was given CPR before being transported to a local Cincinnati hospital — and later a Buffalo hospital, where he was released and headed home nine days later.

Higgins said on Jan. 5 that Hamlin’s mother contacted him in the days after the incident, allowing him to be in a “good place.”

 

Nearly five months later, Hamlin and Buffalo general manager Brandon Beane said the 25-year-old safety has been “fully cleared” to resume football activities.

Hamlin told reporters on April 18 that commotio cordis caused the cardiac arrest, and said he wants to return to football because “my heart is still in it.”

Beane said in his press conference that same day that Hamlin is “of the mindset” and in “a great headspace” to make his eventual return to the Bills’ lineup.

 

 

“My heart is still in the game,” Hamlin said on April 18. “I love the game. It’s something I want to prove to myself, not nobody else, I just want to show people that fear is a choice and you can keep going in something without knowing what’s at the end of the tunnel.

“You might feel anxious or any type of way but you just keep putting your right foot in front of the left foot and you keep going.”