ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Fans roared when Bills safety Damar Hamlin took the field Friday at the Blue and Red practice at Highmark Stadium.
While the practice was a low-key event that allowed fans the chance to see the Bills in their home stadium, it also represented the first time that Hamlin had been back out on the field at Highmark Stadium since before he went into cardiac arrest during a Jan. 2 game in Cincinnati, during a Monday Night Football game.
Being back at Highmark Stadium, in pads, was another step in Hamlin's recovery process.
"It was an emotional day," he said of the Jan. 22 playoff game he watched in January from a stadium suite. "I felt the love then, but you know, to be back out here and then to not know the future, and not know what it was going to be for me.
"But to be able to be back out here so soon, you know, right away, just in the process like everybody else, it's like, I can't describe it to you."
It was a big day for other Bills, too, but for very different reasons.
Rookie tight end Dalton Kincaid for the first time visited Highmark Stadium with fans in the stands. The team said roughly 35,000 people attended Friday's event.
"It's awesome to see all these people come out here, and if this is anything close to what home games like, it's going to be fun," the first-round pick said.
Running back Damien Harris is no stranger to Highmark Stadium. The running back has been there as a member of the New England Patriots the past four seasons, but now he's in Buffalo.
Harris said he was surprised by the traffic getting to the stadium.
"Yes it's crazy, it almost made me late for practice in the first place," he joked. "No, but this is great, man. These are the best fans in the world, so it was great to come out here and strap it up in front of them for the first time, you know, at our stadium. My first time here on the good side, you know what I mean, so it's great to be out here.
"Obviously the energy is electric so you know I'm glad to be here."