Damar Hamlin

From cardiac arrest in 2022 to a 59-tackle starter season in 2024 — the comeback is on the stat sheet.

Hamlin's 2022 season — 54 tackles, 6 TFL, 1 forced fumble — was a breakout that ended in a Week 17 cardiac arrest on the field in Cincinnati. The 2023 line (4 tackles) reflects a year spent earning his way back to a roster spot. Then 2024 happened: 59 tackles, 4 TFL, 5 PDs, 1 FF, 1 fumble recovery — a clean full starter's season, two years after his heart stopped on national TV.

119 career tackles — and 95% of them came in the two seasons bracketing his cardiac arrest.

Hamlin's career tackle total sits at 119, with 113 of those (95%) coming in just two seasons: 2022 (54) and 2024 (59). The 2023 line (4 tackles) is a placeholder for a year of medical clearance and limited reps; 2025 (1 tackle, on RES) reflects a return to a depth/special-teams role behind Buffalo's young safety room.

He's added 10 TFL, 9 PDs, 2 FF, 1 fumble recovery, and 2.5 sacks across his career — versatile production for a player whose career arc is defined by the simple fact that he came back at all.

The 2024 stat line is more disruptive than 2022 — fewer tackles needed, more PDs and pressure.

The 2024 version of Hamlin is a more complete coverage safety: 5 PDs vs. 2 in 2022, plus a fumble recovery on top of the forced fumble. The pass-rush activity dipped (1.0 sacks, 1 QB hit vs. 1.5/3 in 2022), but that tracks with a move toward deeper-safety alignment under McDermott in 2024.

Two full-volume seasons that look like a baseline NFL starter — that's the whole story.

He's a one-team player — 5 seasons, 1 franchise (BUF), 1 of the most public comeback stories in the league.

Every snap of Hamlin's career has come in Buffalo. From a 2021 6th-round pick (Pittsburgh, #212 overall) to the Week 17 ambulance on Monday Night Football in January 2023, to the PFWA Comeback Player of the Year (2023) vote, to a 59-tackle 2024 — all of it has worn the standing buffalo logo.

That singular jersey timeline is unusual for a Day-3 safety. The career line — 119 tackles, 9 PDs, 2.5 sacks — is modest in volume, but the context is the whole story.

2025: on the IR/RES list — the third season in five years that ends with 1 tackle or fewer.

As of the 2025 regular season, Hamlin's line reads 1 tackle, RES status — his role behind Cole Bishop and Taylor Rapp shrank, and an injury moved him to the reserve list. That's three seasons of his career (2021, 2023, 2025) that finished with single-digit tackle totals — the bookends around two genuine starter years.

The pattern is binary: when Hamlin is healthy and on the field, he's a 50+ tackle, 4-5 PD safety. When he's not, his line goes to zero. There's no middle gear.