The entire NFL community took a major blow this week when Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin suffered a cardiac arrest during a game Monday night, and few players felt the weight of the situation more than Indianapolis Colts rookie Rodney Thomas II.
Hamlin, who had his heartbeat restored on the field following roughly nine minutes of CPR, played high school football with Thomas at Catholic Central High School in Pittsburgh. Thomas drove to Cincinnati earlier this week to visit his former teammate where Hamlin is still in critical condition as of this writing.
Even with the situation as dire as it is, being able to physically visit Hamlin has helped Thomas cope with the reality of it all.
“Definitely for me, it calmed me down just being able to get eyes on him. Just because, being away, it’s all like what’s going on? He said, she said, I just wanted to go there, I just wanted to be there and I just wanted to be understanding of what was going on,” Thomas told reporters Wednesday.
It was reported by Ben Baby of ESPN that Thomas and Hamlin have a “brother-like” relationship considering their days of playing high school ball together.
Though Thomas is gearing up to play the final game of his rookie season, he’s not going to put Hamlin out of his mind. Instead, the rookie safety will use the situation as inspiration to play for Hamlin.
“I never put it aside. I’m putting right where I got to be, right in my mind. Playing for him, playing for what he represents. If you just look at who he is, he’s a great person,” Thomas said. “Like I said, I went to high school with him, he took me under his wing. Just a bunch of things, he’s always looked out for me. So, I’m doing all this stuff for him.”
For the many who don’t know Hamlin personally, Thomas said it’s easy to see what kind of person he is from the widespread support he’s seen since the terrifying incident Monday night.
“You can just see based off of the impact, like nationally, it’s a big event. Everybody’s drawn towards it because everybody’s saying it’s the first time things of that nature has happened or something like that. But if you just see all of the reactions, all the support, all of – just everything that’s piled up behind him and just supporting him and wanting to see him succeed, wanting to see him win,” Thomas said.
“That on the large scale, is exactly how it was on the small scale just around us and around the city, around the people that knew him. He’s just the most genuine person that you could ever come across. No hidden motives, no nothing. He just wants to see – like the people that care about him, he wants to see them succeed. The people that don’t care about him, he wants to see them succeed. He’s just that type of guy. He lives his life like that.”
Like Colts Wire on Facebook
Follow Colts Wire on Twitter
Follow Kevin on Twitter (@KevinHickey11)
