Watching Buffalo’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals Monday night with his wife, former Buffalo Bills right tackle Daryl Williams reacted with concern when safety Damar Hamlin collapsed after making a tackle.
“I noticed the reaction on the players’ faces and I knew it wasn’t an ordinary injury,” Williams said in a phone interview Thursday night.
A number of fans have suggested that rather than announcing the starting lineup before Sunday's game, the Bills should announce the names of the medical staff.
The television coverage didn’t provide a proper view to see which Bills medical personnel were attending to Hamlin, but Williams thought of assistant athletic trainer Denny Kellington.
“I saw the ambulance and everybody huddled around (Hamlin), but in the back of my head, I was saying, ‘I wonder if Denny is there doing his thing?’ ” Williams said.
Kellington was there and was doing his thing, credited with performing CPR on Hamlin to restart his heart. Hamlin was transported to University of Cincinnati Medical Center. Earlier Thursday, doctors said he remained in critical condition, but had begun non-verbal communication because he is still using a breathing tube.
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Bills assistant athletic trainer Denny Kellington.
On Twitter, Williams wrote of Kellington: “My guy! The best trainer in the league.”
Williams played for the Bills in 2020-21.
“Denny, we built a relationship the two years I was there, and, honestly, I feel he has a relationship with a lot of players in (the locker room) because Denny is a really selfless guy and that’s my definition of a trainer,” Williams said. “They have to be selfless because they’re attending to all of your physical pains and needs and Denny, he’s just a really great dude and he really helped me during my time in Buffalo.”
A graduate of Oklahoma State, Kellington spent the 1999 offseason and the 2001 season as an intern with the Denver Broncos, earned his master’s degree at Ohio State (2000-02, working with the field hockey and women’s lacrosse programs), worked for Amsterdam of NFL Europe in 2002, spent 13 years at Syracuse (assistant athletic trainer and head athlete trainer for football) and joined the Bills in 2017.
Kellington was among the trainers, physicians and paramedics who implemented the NFL’s Emergency Action Plan as soon as Hamlin was unresponsive and didn’t have a pulse. Head athletic trainer Nate Breske remained in Cincinnati with Hamlin.
Fans gathered outside Highmark Stadium to pray for injured Bills player Damar Hamlin on Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2023.
"That whole medical team goes through their mock exercises for things like this," coach Sean McDermott said. "We are never around to see those exercises, but practice pays off, and it did in this case. … To put in context, for an assistant to find himself at that position and needing to take the action that he did, and step up, and take charge like he did was nothing short of amazing, and the courage that it took.
"You talk about a real leader and a real hero saving Damar’s life. I just admire his strength."
Williams did not miss a game in his two years with the Bills (33 starts), a feat he said was made possible by Kellington.
“Last year, my knee started to tighten up on me and it blew up on me with fluid, and it was getting to the point where I didn’t know if I could keep practicing and going,” Williams said. “Denny was a guy who helped me get through the year, and what I like about Denny, he’s a direct type of dude. He was like, ‘Daryl, you need to come in every morning, let me work on your knee and I promise you, I will get you better.’ And that’s what he did.
“I played (98%) of the snaps, and there is definitely no way I could have done that without Denny. Doing what he told me to do, he definitely got me right.”
