In aftermath of Damar Hamlin's collapse, what can be done to better protect players?
MIAMI - It's now a question for many in the aftermath of Damar Hamlin's collapse, what can be done to better protect players?
One former Buffalo Bill's player who is now a doctor is still waiting to find out more, but says, there's always a need to re-examine player protection.
CBS4's Jacqueline Quynh sat down with Dr. Hervé Damas, a former linebacker with the Bills for his perspective.
"I was doing some work and all of a sudden my phone started going off, a bunch of text messages," he said.
It has been years since Dr. Damas suited up in uniform and took the field for the Bills, but that moment when he looked over to the TV to see Hamlin collapsed brought him back to being on the squad.
"The first thing that hit me was like there's no way any of these men can go out here and play this game," Damas thought.
A day after, he's filled with thoughts for Damar Hamlin, his family, and his former team.
"To see someone administered to have a defibrillator come out on the field, that's a whole new level, that's literally life and death," he said.
As a doctor, and a health and wellness captain for the NFL Retired Player's Association South Florida Chapter, he's waiting to find out how the NFL will investigate. He knows from experience, the chest area can sometimes be vulnerable, that's why it's an area that could use additional shock absorption or protection.
"In football, we have shoulder pads, there's a couple of nuances about that first of all they're not like a one-piece thing, so they separate they have straps or laces that you tie up, so there is room for them to separate, sometimes they also don't provide full coverage of the chest wall," he explained.
Hamlin wants the NFL to thoroughly investigate, and he says if the injury was the result of impact from being hit, thus leading to cardiac arrest, this could be a moment to look for improvement.
"There is an opportunity to mandate maybe another layer or protection that that they use in some of these other sports, that they use for the kids, they say if you're gonna pitch you're gonna have to wear this," he told CBS4.
While it is an intense game, especially as the playoffs approach, he hopes fans come to realize how traumatic this event has been, and why safety is so important in this sport.
"If there something like this occurring regardless of how rare it is we know what happens in other sports, if this is happening now, we should address it, and there's room for growth," he concluded.
Click here for the latest on Hamlin's condition.