Ravens safety who grew up with Damar Hamlin reflects on the shocking injury
BALTIMORE -- Ravens safety Geno Stone grew up 40 minutes away from Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin.
As young football players, the two competed against each other and took recruiting trips together.
The two even spent time with each other last offseason. So when the shocking scene played out on Monday night with Hamlin going into cardiac arrest on the field Stone says it hit close to home.
"Just to know what type of person he is, he's a guy that loves his community, loves his family," Stone said. "He stayed close to home, he picked close to home just to show all the little kids from around his area what type of person you can be from that area and make it big."
The Ravens safety says he is praying for the Hamlin family and hopes that Damar can recover and see all the love and support that has surrounded him.
"I just hope he gets to see the type of impact he made on the world," Stone said. "I just see so many people talking about him now and how woke everyone got from this incident. We're not just players, we're not just entertainers, we're human beings at the end of the day."
The entire NFL community is distraught after seeing one of their own go down. Now, Stone wants to put into perspective the risk of the job.
"How many times have you ever made that same tackle and just got up from it where he wasn't able to? Now, some guys may think differently and how they go about the game, but at the same time you're gonna have that thought in the back of your head," he said. "But you're still gonna go out there and compete and do what you gotta do, but you know it comes with a cost."