Buffalo Bills offensive tackle Dion Dawkins could barely contain his excitement when he was asked what it was like for the team to see Damar Hamlin again on a video call Friday morning.
“We got our boy, man!!! That’s all that matters! We got our boy!” an excited Dawkins said Friday afternoon in a call with reporters. “The excitement was beautiful, it was amazing. It has given us so much energy, so much bright, high spirits, whatever you want to call it, it has given it to us to see that boy’s face. To see him smile, to see him go like this (flexes biceps) in the camera, it was everything.”
“And then to hear him talk to us, it was everything, and that’s what we needed. Literally, that’s all we needed.”
Dawkins described the past week’s emotions as “a rollercoaster, but a rollercoaster that’s never been ridden.”
“You really go from the saddest you can really feel to the happiest you can feel in a short, drastic time,” Dawkins said. “The saddest is the saddest of the sad where you really don’t know what to do.”
“It’s far from over, but the good thing about it is it’s a positive energy for whatever rollercoaster you want to call it,” he continued. “We’re on a positive ride right now, where we got to see our guy, and we got to see #3 (Hamlin) smile and that’s literally all we wanted, you know? He’s here with us, and that’s all we can ask for is that he’s taking steps forward.”
“It’s still very emotional for a lot of guys, and we’re happy, we’re blessed and extremely thankful,” Dawkins added.
When asked about Hamlin’s toy drive foundation going over $7 million in donations, Dawkins responded with an emphatic: “It’s super lit!”
Editor’s note: This post has been updated with the correct byline.
