NFL's Antonio Hamilton Suffers Severe Burns In Cooking Accident

Arizona Cardinals cornerback Antonio Hamilton suffered second degree burns all over his lower body ... in what he described as "literally a freak accident" in a kitchen.

According to NFL Network insiders Ian Rapoport and Mike Garafolo, the 29-year-old football player was cooking a meal recently ... when he accidentally spilled hot oil all over himself.

Hamilton says he suffered burns on his thighs and feet in the incident ... but he was grateful it wasn't much worse.

"I had an accident that could've ended up deadly for me & my family," Hamilton said on his Twitter page. "But instead I got the short end of it by having my feet severely burned."

The Cardinals put Hamilton on the reserve/non-football injury list Thursday -- which means he's out of Arizona's lineup for at least the first four weeks of the season while he recovers.

It's a super unfortunate break for the defensive back -- because he had just crushed Cardinals training camp and earned a starting job. In fact, Hamilton called it "the greatest camp of my career."

No word on how much time Hamilton will ultimately miss ... but he said in his social media post Thursday, "God spared me to only have these injuries."

Hamilton broke into the NFL as an undrafted free agent in 2016. He bounced around the league for several years after that, but latched on with the Cardinals last season.