Dome Patrol & The First Winners- Pro Football Hall of Famer
- Saints Hall of Fame
- Franchise Legend
Sam Mills
- Position
- LBLinebacker
- Number
- #51
- Saints years
- 1986–1994
- NFL career
- 1986–1997
- Era
- Dome Patrol & The First Winners
- Franchise
- New Orleans Saints
Honors
- Pro Football Hall of Fame
- New Orleans Saints Hall of Fame
- 5x Pro Bowl
Also played for Carolina Panthers (1995–1997).
Why he’s a legend
The legacy
Sam Mills was told he was too small by the NFL twice, spent three years in the USFL winning championships with the Philadelphia and Baltimore Stars, and arrived in New Orleans at 27 as an undrafted linebacker nobody wanted. He started for nine seasons, made four Pro Bowls as a Saint, and is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. His words to the Carolina locker room while being treated for cancer — "keep pounding" — became that franchise’s motto, and he died in 2005 at 45.
Why he matters
- Pro Football Hall of Fame, Class of 2022, after a career that began undrafted and in another league entirely.
- The middle linebacker of the Dome Patrol, the most decorated defensive unit in franchise history.
- Five Pro Bowl selections, four of them in New Orleans, at a listed height of 5-foot-9.
- He started for the 1987 team that gave the franchise its first winning season and its first playoff berth.
- The Saints Hall of Fame inducted him, and Carolina retired his number; both franchises claim him.
Defining moment
The 1992 Pro Bowl selections
1992 season
Mills, Rickey Jackson, Pat Swilling and Vaughan Johnson were all named to the Pro Bowl after the 1992 season — the only complete linebacking corps ever selected together. Mills was the undrafted one, and the smallest man on the field in almost every game he played.
Career statistics
Current through the 1997 season
With the Saints
- Seasons
- 9
- Pro Bowls as a Saint
- 4
Full NFL career(1986–1997, all teams)
- Seasons
- 12
- Pro Bowls
- 5
Honors & accolades
Championships & enshrinement
- Pro Football Hall of FameClass of 2022
- New Orleans Saints Hall of Fame
Selections & records
- 5x Pro BowlFour with New Orleans, one with Carolina
Career timeline
12 seasons in the NFL, 9 of them in New Orleans.
- 1986New Orleans SaintsSigns with New Orleans after three USFL seasons; undrafted
- 1987New Orleans SaintsStarts for the first winning team in franchise history
- 1988New Orleans Saints
- 1989New Orleans Saints
- 1990New Orleans Saints
- 1991New Orleans Saints
- 1992New Orleans SaintsAll four Dome Patrol linebackers named to the Pro Bowl
- 1993New Orleans Saints
- 1994New Orleans Saints
- 1995Carolina PanthersJoins the expansion Carolina Panthers
- 1996Carolina Panthers
- 1997Carolina Panthers
Era context
What the league looked like while Sam Mills played it. Raw totals across eras are not like-for-like.
Dome Patrol & The First Winners
1981–1996
The franchise finally wins — and builds the best linebacking corps the NFL had seen.
- Sacks became an official NFL statistic in 1982, so career sack totals begin there.
- The 1982 season was shortened to nine games by a players strike; 1987 was shortened to fifteen, three of them played by replacement players.
- The salary cap arrived in 1994 and changed how long a roster could stay together.
- The Saints reached the playoffs four times in this era and did not win a postseason game.
Data & sources
Statistics on this profile are current through the 1997 season.
- Tackle totals from the 1980s and 1990s were compiled by individual clubs rather than the league and are not comparable between teams, so none are shown.
