Giants players and staff return to practice with heavy hearts for Damar Hamlin

Giants guard Jack Anderson said he was crying by himself in his living room on Monday night.

The Buffalo Bills drafted Damar Hamlin in the sixth round of the 2021 NFL Draft and took Anderson in the seventh. They sat two lockers away during that training camp with sixth-round DB Rachad Wildgoose in between.

So Hamlin’s emergency in Cincinnati was “hard to watch” for Anderson.

“I love that dude. It’s hard right now. That’s my dog,” Anderson said Wednesday, struggling at his locker. “He was always asking me how my day went. That’s the kind of dude he is. You want your locker next to that guy because he cares about you and involves you in all of his stuff. He’d be like, ‘How was it today? Did you have a good day?’”

Anderson said he was scrolling through past messages with Hamlin on Tuesday night. He smiled about their most recent exchange on Instagram a month or two ago.

“He slid up in one of my stories,” he said. “He’s just a funny dude, a jokester. There was a girl I was talking to at the time, I posted her on my Instagram story, and he slid up and said, ‘Oh look at you, loverboy.’ That was the last thing he said to me. I was looking at that last night. That’s really who he is: just great energy, great dude.”

A ton of Giants players and staff spent time with Hamlin in Buffalo, including GM Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll. None of them found it easy to take the practice on Wednesday, although they all were on the field.

“I’ve practiced with a torn MCL, the flu, coming back from Covid, a sprained ankle,” said corner Nick McCloud, a former Bill and friend of Hamlin’s. “But I’d say this is probably the toughest one I’ve had to try to get through for sure.”

Anderson, when asked how he would play in Sunday’s season finale against the Philadelphia Eagles, said: “I don’t know. I think you don’t really got a choice at this point. We got a game this week, and that’s the task at hand. But obviously it’s in the back of our heads and it’s scary, for sure.”

Daboll — who wore a blue Giants hat with Hamlin’s No. 3 in white to honor him — said no players had approached him yet to say they were unprepared to play on Sunday.

But the head coach had the Giants’ medical staff, team psychologist Dr. Lani Lawrence, and team chaplain Gian Paul Gonzalez speak to the players in their 9:30 a.m. team meeting. And Gonzalez also said a prayer.

“That’s how we started before any football,” said Daboll, the Bills’ former offensive coordinator. Schoen, who was Buffalo’s assistant GM when they drafted Hamlin last year, wore a No. 3 hat on the practice field, as well.

“On behalf of our organization, myself, Joe, the players, some of the coaches, some of the staff members, a lot of us have been around Damar,” Daboll said in a somber opening statement at his press conference. “We offer our prayers to him, his family and people in that organization.

“They’ve been through a lot, and this is tragic,” Daboll added. “It’s tragic to see. I feel for Damar most importantly, his family, but all the players and coaches that are around him every day. He’s a tremendous young man. And I just pray for a recovery. That was tough.”

Anderson said “still it’s a helpless feeling” trying to find out that Hamlin will be OK.

“Shit, I just want to know he’s alright,” the offensive lineman said. “It’s tough right now.”

Safety Jason Pinnock, a four-year college teammate of Hamlin’s at Pittsburgh from 2017-20, practiced on Wednesday but understandably was not in the locker room.

Pinnock and McCloud, though, connected when they joined the Giants at the start of this season due to their mutual friend Hamlin. So together, they are supporting and monitoring Hamlin’s situation closely.

“Me and Pinnock have been in communication with people who are close,” McCloud said. “So, we’re just trying to get updates as much as we can. We’ve been on the phone, I’d probably say, by the hour. Ever since it happened, we’ve just been sharing information, trying to get information to each other as much as we can. So definitely trying to lean on each other as best as we can right now.”

It was clearly not easy for Anderson, McCloud, quarterback Davis Webb, wide receiver Isaiah Hodgins and others to even talk about two days later.

“This whole week is going to be a little challenging,” said Hodgins, Hamlin’s former Bills teammate. “For players on our team, around the league, players on the Bills, players everywhere just knowing that is a possibility. We know that it’s a violent game and there’s an opportunity of injury and tearing something, but rarely does it cross your head like, ‘I’m not going to be able to go home and see my family.’

“Just the fact that it became a reality is a little scary,” he added. “But we’re praying for the best and hoping for the best.”

LOVE’S A GOOD GUY

Giants safety Julian Love has been elected the winner of the 22nd annual George Young-Ernie Accorsi Media Good Guy Award by the New York Giants Chapter of the Professional Football Writers of America for his professionalism and availability during the 2022 season. Love won the award after finishing second last year.

“To all you guys who gave me the second place votes last year …,” Love cracked Wednesday. He graciously accepted and said this has been an easy year to speak about the Giants given their success.

Three players received first-place votes: Love (11), wide receiver Darius Slayton (four) and guard Nick Gates (three).

GIANTS INJURY REPORT

Did not participate: DT Leonard Williams (neck), OLB Azeez Ojulari (ankle), C Jon Feliciano (back), DT Dexter Lawrence (rest), practice squad DT Vernon Butler (illness). Limited: CB Adoree Jackson (knee). Full: S Xavier McKinney (fingers) … Daboll would not say if he plans to play or rest starters in Sunday’s finale. Saquon Barkley told the Daily News: “I’m playing. Unless Dabes tells me differently, I’m playing.” Important disclaimer: Daboll likely will tell him differently … Meanwhile, the Giants aren’t thinking of any need for a possible contingency plan if the NFL is going to dramatically alter the entire league schedule yet. They’ll simply adjust if and when they receive word of a change.

EAGLES PROJECTED INJURY REPORT

Did not participate: OT Lane Johnson (groin), DE Josh Sweat (neck), CB Avonte Maddox (toe), CB Zech McPhearson (illness). Limited: QB Jalen Hurts (right shoulder), RB Miles Sanders (knee), LB Shaun Bradley (wrist).