Rams’ Russ Yeast second NFL player this week hospitalized for scary chest injury

In a moment with some eery similarities to the Damar Hamlin incident earlier this week, Los Angeles Rams rookie Russ Yeast was sent to the hospital on Sunday after suffering a pulmonary contusion.

The events of the Week 17 “Monday Night Football” game between the Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals made national headlines. Second-year player Damar Hamlin suffered a serious blow to his chest while making a tackle on Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins. The hit is believed to have caused a Commotio Cordis and sent the defensive back into cardiac arrest.

Few will be able to forget the field at Paycor Stadium being filled with players and an ambulance entering the field to take Hamlin to the hospital after needing to be resuscitated on the field. Fortunately for Hamlin, after being in intensive care for several days, his health has remarkably improved and is likely to return to a normal life after the near-death incident.

The situation was highly emotional for Bills players and many athletes and officials around the NFL, so it made the injury to rookie Russ Yeast on Sunday scarier than it probably needed to be because of its similarities to Hamlin’s.