The physical toll that NFL football places on a player’s body is enormous. Perhaps no one is more attuned to the rigors of the game than Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin, who suffered cardiac arrest on the field during Week 17 of the 2022 season but has since resumed his playing career and now serves as the team’s starting safety.

“As hard as it is, as hard as the days are, as hard as it is, as hard as it is to be in this league and have success day in and day out – the grind, the pain, the pain of my body every day – as hard as this is, I’m still living my dream,” he told ESPN’s Alaina Getzenberg on Monday.

Hamlin, 26, returned to the field last season but largely served as a special teams contributor, appearing in five games. While the Bills underwent major roster turnover this past offseason, however, he won the starting safety gig in training camp and has recorded 31 tackles (two for loss), an interception and three passes defensed.

“I mean, what else can’t this young man do?” Bills head coach Sean McDermott told reporters before Week 1 of the 2024 season, “It’s one thing to come back from an ACL or a broken bone. It’s another thing to come back from where he came from, right? Never mind ​​to just decide to play football and connect with football, right? In full pads at the NFL level…I don’t think I need to say anything more.”