{"id":552164,"date":"2026-03-29T10:52:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-29T10:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/552164\/"},"modified":"2026-03-29T10:52:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T10:52:10","slug":"bills-news-buffalo-continues-to-bolster-safety-depth-for-2026-nfl-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/552164\/","title":{"rendered":"Bills news: Buffalo continues to bolster safety depth for 2026 NFL season"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The Buffalo Bills have already signed veteran safeties C.J. Gardner-Johnson and Geno Stone to shore up their safety room this offseason, and then, on Friday, the Bills brought back a familiar face to serve as valuable depth at the position.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Today\u2019s edition of Buffalo Rumblinks leads off by discussing the news that Damar Hamlin is returning to the team on a one-year deal.<\/p>\n<p>Damar Hamlin back on one-year deal<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Damar Hamlin has been a fan-favorite and a great underdog story ever since he worked his way back onto the field following a cardiac arrest during a game against the Cincinnati Bengals during the 2022 NFL season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Hamlin\u2019s fate with the 2026 Bills was uncertain, however, as he was a free agent and the Bills had already brought in veterans C.J. Gardner-Johnson and Geno Stone to surround up-and-coming starter Cole Bishop in the safety room.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">But Hamlin, who turned 28 on Tuesday, is staying with the Bills on a one-year contract, returning for a sixth season with Buffalo. The signing of Hamlin gives the Bills a deep and experienced quartet of safeties at the back of their defense.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Hamlin has appeared in 53 career regular-season games (27 starts) and seven career playoff games (three starts) with two career interceptions, nine pass breakups, 2.5 sacks and one fumble recovery. During the 2024 season, Hamlin started 14 games and recorded his first three takeaways, and in Buffalo\u2019s AFC Divisional Round home win over the Baltimore Ravens, Hamlin delivered a crucial strip-sack of Lamar Jackson that served as a key turning point in the victory.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Last season, Hamlin served as a backup to Bishop and Taylor Rapp and appeared in only five games because of a pectoral injury.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">As of now, it appears Bishop and Gardner-Johnson will likely serve as the two starting safeties, with Stone and Hamlin serving as valuable depth pieces.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Speculating on what it would take the Bills to extend starting right guard O\u2019Cyrus Torrence. Plus, breaking down Buffalo\u2019s chances of trading for edge rusher Myles Garrett; and the Pro Football Hall of Fame is honoring three former Bills during the annual Awards of Excellence program.<\/p>\n<p>Buffalo Bills articles recently featured on Buffalo Rumblings<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Buffalo Bills have already signed veteran safeties C.J. Gardner-Johnson and Geno Stone to shore up their safety&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":552165,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[71478,349,99,93646],"class_list":{"0":"post-552164","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-buffalo-bills-news","9":"tag-nfl","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-web-rumblings"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=552164"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552164\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/552165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=552164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=552164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=552164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}