Damar Hamlin’s dramatic return to Cincinnati 10 months after Bills safety’s cardiac arrest is ‘NOT inspiring,’ says Bomani Jones: ‘We’d be better off pretending it didn’t happen’

Damar Hamlin’s return to Cincinnati nearly a year after suffering cardiac arrest on the field was best left unmentioned, according to the sports media personality. Bomani Jones.

The former ESPN and HBO host took issue with the celebration surrounding Hamlin’s presence at Sunday’s Bills-Bengals game in Cincinnati, where the Buffalo safety remained inactive as he has been all season.

The 25-year-old was active on Jan. 2, when he was left motionless on the Paycor Stadium turf in Cincinnati after a tackle on Bengals receiver Tee Higgins. Hamlin has since revealed that he suffered from commotio cordis, a rare condition in which the heart’s rhythm is disrupted when the chest is hit. He was resuscitated on the field and rushed to the University of Cincinnati Academic Health Center, where his life was ultimately saved. Commotio cordis typically has a 97 percent mortality rate if not treated within three minutes.

Hamlin, dressed in Bills sweats, led his teammates onto the field in Cincinnati, but Jones felt like the ceremony served to distract from the harsh realities of football and the reality that someone almost died.

“The belief in this game and the way people view it is so powerful that they have to believe they can make something good out of it,” Jones said on his podcast. “I’ll be honest, it’s been almost a year since all of this happened and I haven’t really figured out where I am now and how I feel about it.

“And if you keep showing me this… we’d all better pretend it didn’t happen.”

Sunday’s return was portrayed by the team, league and media as an emotional return for Hamlin, who dined with 10 UC medical staff members who helped save his life in early 2023.

He was cheered by fans in Cincinnati, many of whom had watched in horror as his lifeless body was loaded into an ambulance in January.

But while some see Hamlin’s return to the NFL as inspiring, Jones sees it as the wrong message.

“I recognize that the role of sport in society is value promotion and all these things. But now that everything has to be turned into a television show, the NFL must commit to all that is good in every way possible,” Jones said.

“And what they’re trying to do is turn what happened to Damar Hamlin into an inspiring story.

“There’s nothing inspiring about what happened.”

“If there’s an inspiration, it’s the first responders and their ability to save someone’s life under those circumstances,” Jones said. “When I hear about Damar Hamlin, it just makes me go silent and wonder, ‘Why exactly am I doing this again? Why am I watching this?”

“It was one of the most awkward and honestly terrifying and disturbing moments I can ever think of watching a sporting event,” Jones added. “And you know it was scary and disturbing because they actually canceled the end of the game.”