ESPN host Bomani Jones says trying to make football safe is like 'trying to make a safe cigarette' after Damar Hamlin collapsed on the field mid-game
- ESPN host Bomani Jones likened trying to make football safer to trying to make a "safe cigarette."
- "It's just not really how this works," Jones said on CNN.
Bomani Jones, host of "The Right Time with Bomani Jones" on ESPN, likened playing football safely to "trying to make a safe cigarette."
Speaking to Don Lemon and Poppy Harlow on CNN's "New Day" Tuesday, Jones commented on Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin's collapse on the field during the first quarter of Monday Night Football in the Bills' game against the Cincinnati Bengals.
"It's like trying to make a safe cigarette," Jones said after Harlow asked whether football can be made safer.
"It's just not really how this works, how this game works, and part of why people watch is the fact that it's not safe," Jones continued. "It's an element to the drama of this, is that the idea, the sacrifice, of everything that has to put in, that's part of what draws people into this."
Jones said that when fans see something like what happened to Hamlin, they feel guilty for tuning into the sport for entertainment.
"We always try to come around and find a way to be like, 'Man, do you think they can find a way to make this safe?' No, they can't. That's just not what this game is or what it's ever going to be," Jones said.
Hamlin collapsed after tackling Bengals player Tee Higgins. He received CPR on the field after experiencing cardiac arrest, the team said. The team said his heart stopped but was restored by the CPR on the field before he was transferred to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center. He spent the night in the ICU and remains in critical condition.
Jones said at first, he thought he saw a spinal injury occur, which he said happens in football. But once he heard Hamlin had received CPR on the field, he said he called a colleague and asked, "did we just watch somebody die?"
"It was so clear from the way they were treating it that it was that grave and that dire," Jones said. "I have watched enough of these to recognize that something was very different."