Damar Hamlin is adding Under Armour to the list of companies he's working with away from football.

This partnership comes with a little more responsibility than wearing the brand's gear. Hamlin will become an athlete ambassador for Protect This Mind, Under Armour's mental-wellness program for young athletes.

The role comes three years after Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest during a game in Cincinnati.

His return to football took a lot more than getting his body ready to play again. Hamlin has talked about dealing with anxiety during his comeback and having days when being around football wasn't what he wanted.

He eventually learned to take things one day at a time and lean on teammates and other people around him when he needed it.

Now some of those experiences are part of what Hamlin can bring to Protect This Mind. He's been through the part nobody could see while he was trying to make his way back onto the field.

Under Armour has plenty of athletes who can sell its gear. Hamlin has something different to offer this program.

Hamlin Knows What It Feels Like to Need Help

Hamlin hasn't tried to make his comeback sound easy. Getting cleared to play again didn't mean he immediately felt like his old self.

Some days he didn't feel like dealing with football at all. Working out wasn't always something he wanted to do, and neither was going into the Bills' facility. We saw him getting closer to playing again. We didn't see much of that part.

Most fans were amazed when Hamlin finally got back into a game. The guys around him helped with some of that.

Other players were working their way through injuries too. Obviously, none of them had been through exactly what Hamlin had, but being around them gave him people who understood what a bad day felt like. Even now, Hamlin says some of the anxiety is still there before games.

That's why his role with Protect This Mind makes sense.

Kids are going to hear plenty of people tell them to speak up when something isn't right. Hamlin can tell them what happened when he needed other people himself.

He knows those days. He's lived them. That's a much different message than simply telling a kid it's OK to ask for help.

There's More Behind This Than Hamlin's Name

Putting Hamlin's face on a mental-health campaign would have been easy. Protect This Mind goes a little further than that.

Under Armour is making free resources available to athletes, coaches and educators. There's also a peer-to-peer part of the program that gives student-athletes a chance to talk with other kids dealing with some of the same pressures they are.

A coach can tell a teenager to speak up when something is bothering them, but that doesn't mean they're going to do it. Sometimes another kid sitting beside them and saying they've dealt with the same thing might get through a little easier.

The program isn't stopping with the athletes either. Under Armour is working with the Positive Coaching Alliance on additional education for coaches, including an effort to encourage them to make room for mental rest and recovery.

Protect This Mind will even reach elementary and middle school students through programming with Athletes for Hope.

That's a pretty wide net.

Hamlin gives Under Armour somebody young athletes will recognize. The rest of the program gives him somewhere to point them after he gets their attention.

Hamlin Was Already Doing the Work

The biggest selling point for Hamlin in this role is that Under Armour didn't have to find a cause for him.

Hamlin has been working with kids through his Chasing M's Foundation for years. That work has grown since his cardiac arrest, especially when it comes to CPR training and making AEDs more available. But it hasn't been limited to heart health.

There have been youth camps, scholarships, school-supply giveaways and other events built around helping kids in the communities Hamlin cares about.

He's stayed busy with it this year too. Hamlin held a combine for kids in Pittsburgh and was involved when an NFL Draft event set a Guinness World Record for hands-only CPR training. His foundation also continued its scholarship and back-to-school programs.

It gives him another way to reach kids.

Hamlin already had the foundation. He already had the community work, and now he has his own experiences with anxiety and the mental side of returning to football that he can share.

Under Armour can make that audience a whole lot bigger.

For a partnership built around helping young athletes, that's a pretty good place to start.