ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- There is the public aspect of Damar Hamlin's journey after he suffered cardiac arrest on "Monday Night Football" with the world watching and then making his way back to the football field and the game he loves.
Then there's the private journey -- the time in 2023 spent, as he described Wednesday, "healing and coming back into myself and who I always was and then who I was trying to become."
"Doing the hard stuff last year to make it easier this year," Hamlin said.
That hard stuff -- taking things step by step -- prepared Hamlin to take advantage of an opportunity when the Bills had turnover and injuries at the safety position. He now will start in the team's opening game against the Arizona Cardinals (1 p.m. ET), coach Sean McDermott said Wednesday.
"What else can't this young man do?" McDermott said. "... It's one thing to come back off of an ACL or a broken bone. It's another thing to come back off of what he came back off of, right? Let alone just to decide to play football and contact football, right, and full pads at the NFL level. I don't think I need to say anything more. I mean, it's incredible."
The fourth-year safety started 13 games in 2022, totaling 91 tackles, 3 quarterback hits, 2 passes defensed and 1.5 sacks, and played in five games last season after suffering cardiac arrest on Jan. 2, 2023, in a game against the Bengals. This will be his first start since then.
Hamlin noted that he received support from everyone in the Bills facility to give him the space to allow him to heal.
"Last season was primarily just about healing and making myself do the hard stuff, thrusting myself into things that were uncomfortable, that made me fearful or gave me anxiety," Hamlin said.
He will start Sunday against the Cardinals alongside veteran safety Taylor Rapp as part of major turnover at the position for the Bills, with seven-year starting safeties Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer no longer on the roster. Hyde was a free agent this offseason, openly contemplated retirement and has said he would re-sign only with the Bills; Poyer signed in free agency with the Miami Dolphins.
Hamlin, 26, has received first-team opportunities throughout the offseason and training camp as the team dealt with injuries at the position, notably to free agent addition Mike Edwards (shoulder and then hamstring) and to rookie second-round pick Cole Bishop (shoulder), both of whom missed almost all of training camp and the preseason. Bishop was a full participant in Wednesday's practice; Edwards is not listed on the injury report. Cam Lewis, who plays multiple roles in the defensive backfield, is the other safety on the roster.
McDermott said that Hamlin's consistency stood out in making the decision.
"The opportunity that was there, he took advantage of it and was consistent, built a certain level of reporting with T-Rapp and that's important as well at the safety position," McDermott said. "So, watching those two communicate and so anxious to watch both of them play this weekend."
Nickel corner Taron Johnson told ESPN that Hamlin has been making plays on the ball through the offseason and camp, and that watching the game from the sideline has improved Hamlin's knowledge of the game.
"I definitely play with him on the back end, so I've seen him a lot, like he grew, he stepped up," starting cornerback Christian Benford said. "I've seen a lot, the unseen. So, a lot of people haven't seen what he's really capable of and I see a good future for him."
The announcement of Hamlin starting came three days after his Chasing M's Foundation held its second annual back to school drive, including Hands-Only CPR training and a football clinic, with more than 600 kids participating. It marked the latest example of how Hamlin has emphasized giving back and educating others on heart health.
On the field Sunday, the Bills will put to the test how this version of the new secondary fits together, and for Hamlin, it will mark the next step in his public and private journey.
"Truly a blessing," he said. "I reflect back on the whole process and me not knowing if I would even be able to play again, sitting in the uncertainty, it was really eating at me because football is truly my passion. It's the thing that I've always been obsessed with my entire life. It all goes to the power of being process-oriented and taking things one day at a time and accepting where you are each step in the process. It truly allows you to conquer anything that you're facing."