Mike Tomlin had a personal relationship with Damar Hamlin, the Buffalo Bills safety who suffered a cardiac arrest on Monday night in a game against the Cincinnati Bengals.

“It’s a really personal thing for me,” said Tomlin, who added that he has known Hamlin since he was roughly 12 years old. “Just got a lot of respect and love for him as a human being. “His commitment to the pursuit of his goals and dreams of doing what it is he’s doing right now, which is playing in the NFL. To watch him make personal decisions and make that a realization, it’s just an honor to get to know young people like that.”

Hamlin’s hometown is McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, and he attended Pittsburgh Central Catholic before he went on to play for Pitt in college.

“Had an opportunity to express that to him whenever I see him,” Tomlin said. “We’ve played Buffalo each of the last 2 seasons, and he and I get to have a moment. Because it’s just cool to not only appreciate these guys in terms of where they are now, but to know them since they were younger people and to watch their maturation, their development, to watch them earn what they’ve been chasing, it’s just really a cool thing. He’s an example of that.

“I’ve got a lot of love for that young man. We lift him and that organization up in prayer.”