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"Sam was as complete a player as I've ever been around." -Former Saints HC Jim Mora@ErinESummers and @JohnDeShazier chat with Mora about Sam Mills' Ring of Honor induction on today's podcast presented by @SeatGeek!https://t.co/pJQO8yGAWl
— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) October 13, 2021
One member of the legendary Dome Patrol will soon be enshrined at the Caesars Superdome, where he and his teammates left their mark on NFL history. Sam Mills will be inducted to the New Orleans Saints Ring of Honor on Dec. 2, during halftime of the team’s game with the visiting Dallas Cowboys.
Mills, who died of cancer in 2005, is survived by his wife Melanie and their four children. After nine outstanding years with the Saints he joined the expansion-franchise Carolina Panthers first as a player and then a coach, endearing himself to the community so strongly that a bronze statue in his likeness stands outside their stadium to this day.
Hopefully some day soon Mills and his old Dome Patrol teammates will be memorialized outside the Superdome, too. Of the four-man linebacker corps only Pro Football Hall of Famer Rickey Jackson and Pat Swilling are still living, after Vaughan Johnson’s death in 2019. There’s a lot to be said for giving people their flowers while they’re still here to enjoy them.
Still, it’s going to be great to see Mills’ name in lights. The Saints Ring of Honor was established in 2013 and currently includes Jackson, his Pro Football Hall of Fame peers Morten Andersen and Willie Roaf, Archie Manning, and the late Will Smith and Tom Benson. That’s fine company for Mills to join, and we’ll be sure to celebrate it.