‘It’s that what-if moment’ … For Broncos like DeShawn Williams, Damar Hamlin’s injury spurs thoughts of the risks of playing football

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — As DeShawn Williams witnessed Bills safety Damar Hamlin was motionless on the Paul Brown Stadium turf in Cincinnati on Monday night, Williams’ mind flooded with thoughts.

He thought of his wife, who had a panic attack upon seeing Hamlin’s injury. He thought about Hamlin himself, with whom he trained at a Pittsburgh facility in recent offseasons, joining a group that also included three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year Aaron Donald.

“Everybody here can say we never seen nothing like that. And I don’t know how to feel,” Williams said. “Like, I feel like I’m numb to the situation. But I hate it had to be him.”

And amid the cascade of emotions came the thought of Williams’ 10-month-old son.

Titan is 10 months old. He comes by his name naturally.

“If you see him, you’ll see why,” Williams said. “He’s a big guy.”

And he is never far from Williams’ heart. Literally. If you see Williams in the locker room, you’ll see see a picture of his pride and joy on a necklace he wears.

“D.J. [Jones] got it for me. A birthday gift,” Williams said, looking down at the photo of his son. “It’s probably one of the best gifts I’ve ever gotten.

“The season, how it’s been going, and I just look down and look at him and his smile — man, he just gives me another reason why I do what I need to do.”

And Williams’ most prominent goal of his football life is simple: that young Titan doesn’t take up the sport.

“My son’s not playing football, I’ll tell you that,” Williams said. “I’m gonna do whatever I’ve gotta do to make as much money as I can so I can take care of him, but my son is not playing football.

“If he loves it, cool,” Williams added a moment later. “But I’m not putting him out there. No. I can’t do it.”

It’s not an uncommon sentiment in NFL locker rooms from those who understand the physical toll the game exacts. Like virtually every player who isn’t a kicking specialist, Williams awakens sore throughout the season.

The collisions accumulate and exact a toll. And the price is usually paid as much tomorrow as it today.

“You really have to love it to do what you gotta do,” Williams said. “And like I said, I just can’t see my baby going through what Daddy go through on a weekly basis. I don’t think he’s gonna be strong enough for that.”

And the truth is, Daddy Williams isn’t strong enough, either.

“Like, I can’t see my baby getting hit,” he said. “That’s something — no, I can’t do that.”

It’s not to say Williams’ pulse doesn’t quicken at the thought of football.

“Yeah, always. I’ve been playing this game since I was 5. I had to sign a waiver when I played. It’s just in my DNA. My dad played.

“I still love the game, but like everybody knows, it’s that ‘what-if’ moment that you can get hurt,” he said. “But when you go out there, you can’t think about it. You’ve just gotta go out there and fly around and do what you gotta do.”

What Williams knows he must do is keep playing. His form this year likely means that he’ll get at least one more contract somewhere in the NFL, even though he just turned 30 last week.

And despite this week’s frightening moment, the game is safer than it has been in the past. Practice is more efficient. With rare exceptions, training is more holistic and focused on recovery than in past decades.

“You know how Vic [Fangio] used to be, like, ‘Yeah, back in my time, we had four-a-days,’ whatever. Technology gets better each year,” Williams said. “But me personally, I just know what this game does to your body.

“Let me beat my body up and do what I’ve gotta do and make as much as money as I can for [Titan] to live a long, long life. So, I’ll do that.”

It’s the risk Williams is willing to take.

But it’s a risk every player is thinking about this week.

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The sentiments were similar elsewhere in the locker room — particularly among the safeties.

“I’ve had a lot of conversations with the guys in the back end. It happened to our position,” safety Justin Simmons said. “We play that position. We have taken hits or given hits much worse than that one seemed, and I think that was the scariest part of watching that.”

And just because the calendar flipped forward by two days and practice resumed does not mean the Broncos are back to normal.

“At the end of the day, we all know what we put our bodies through and what we put our mental [side] through,” Simmons said. “For me getting ready for Sunday, I think it’s continuing to be open and honest. Sometimes, it’s okay not to be okay.

“Seeing that, in that moment, made me not okay. We have to continually have that open conversation.”

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