The NFL season was over, and Sam Mills III was driving from Washington back toward North Carolina, the state where his father once starred for the Carolina Panthers and later provided them with the motto that has become embedded into the team’s soul:
Keep Pounding.
It’s a bittersweet time for the Mills family because their late patriarch is a candidate for the Pro Football Hall of Fame again. This is the 19th time Sam Mills has been eligible, but only the second time the linebacker has been included among the 15 modern-day finalists.
“We feel honored just to be in this round again,” Mills III, now an assistant coach with the Washington Football Team, told me.
Once again, the odds are against Mills actually making the Hall — which is unfortunate, because he should have made it already. But one of these years, the family firmly believes, Sam Mills is going to get in. A number of people among the 48 selectors who have a Hall of Fame vote believe that, too. The class will officially be announced Saturday.
Mills died in 2005, of intestinal cancer, at age 46. Last year was his first year as a Hall finalist, and the NFL invited all the finalists’ families to a fancy Super Bowl weekend in South Florida. The 15 modern-era finalists are traditionally whittled to the winning five the day before the Super Bowl, though, which means that most of the modern-era players don’t make it.
All of the finalists and their families were told last year to be in their hotel room on the day before the Super Bowl at a certain time. During that time, either you got a knock of congratulations, or you didn’t.
Mills III witnessed all this, including the “no knock” on his family’s door, and he thought about what it would have been like if his dad had been with him that day.
“I would say 95% of me wishes that he was here and he could accept his own jacket,” Mills III said. “The other 5%? Well, I got to see guys not get that knock last year, and know they’ve got to wait another year, at least. And I’m glad he doesn’t have to go through that. Because you can tell it hurts.”
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SAM MILLS’ CHANCES AT HALL
This year, due to COVID-19 restrictions, the finalists aren’t being flown into Tampa for the Super Bowl, although the winners may be. But the hurt will be more private for those 10 who don’t make it. Former N.C. State star receiver Torry Holt is a finalist, too, this year, for the second time. Like Mills, it will be a slight surprise if Holt makes it due to a logjam at receiver. And defensive end Jared Allen, who played the last of his 12 NFL seasons for Carolina during the 2015 Super Bowl year, is also a finalist and may have a decent shot.
It could happen this year for Mills — although he’s probably hurt by the fact that nine of the 15 finalists are defensive players and one of them, defensive back Charles Woodson, will almost certainly make it in his first year. With Peyton Manning and Woodson virtual locks, that means there are only three spots left for the 13 other modern-day finalists. The vote has already taken place, during a virtual meeting Jan. 19 among the 48 selectors, but results haven’t been made public.
One day it will happen for Mills, just like it happened for the late Kevin Greene, a former teammate of Mills in Carolina. Greene was the third-leading NFL sacker of all time, yet he wasn’t voted in for his first 11 years of eligibility, and he was honest about how much that bothered him. He finally made it on his 12th try in 2016.
In the meantime, Mills keeps coming close, falling just short of the goal line. By making it to the final 15 for the second time, Mills has improved his odds significantly. Statistics show that the vast majority of former players do become Hall of Famers once they get to the final 15 multiple times. But when?
“We feel like he should get it eventually,” Mills III said. “But you just never know. The timing matters. Who is eligible matters. I mean, let’s be honest — there are some guys who hit the list this year who are first-ballot guys, right? So it’s kind of a timing-and-luck type thing.”
If Mills doesn’t get in this year — and it will be an upset if he does — he will have his 20th and final chance at modern-era eligibility in 2022. If he didn’t make it that year, he would enter the “Senior” group of older veteran players, where there is a different selection process but still a chance for induction each year.
A note on other notable Panthers in the Hall of Fame hunt: Wide receiver Steve Smith becomes eligible in 2022 for the first time and should make the Hall at some point, possibly in his first season. Defensive end Julius Peppers is also a strong candidate for a first-ballot election, but he isn’t eligible until 2023.
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FATHER AND SON
The Panthers have already honored Mills in just about every way they could, short of winning him a Super Bowl ring. You probably know the Mills story, but here’s a thumbnail sketch if not:
Starred at Montclair (N.J.) State but wasn’t drafted, in large part because he was 5-foot-9. Worked his way into the NFL through the USFL backdoor. Starred for the New Orleans Saints. Signed with Carolina at age 35 in 1995, and didn’t even play his first game for the Panthers until age 36, when most players have retired. Directed Carolina’s defense during the surprise 1996 playoff season. Made the Pro Bowl five times. Had his Panthers “51” number retired. Inducted into the team’s Hall of Honor. Lived to see his statue made and placed outside the stadium. Became a Carolina Panthers assistant coach. Diagnosed with intestinal cancer in August 2003 but kept coaching through his chemotherapy treatments. Gave “Keep Pounding” speech in a team meeting during the Panthers’ 2003 Super Bowl run. Died in 2005.
Mills III is 42 years old now, only four years younger than his father was when he passed away. I asked him how important a spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame would have been to his father.
“I’ve thought about that, especially the last couple of years,” Mills III said. “And I feel like with his career, going to a small school to begin with, then getting a couple tryouts and not making it, then catching on with the Philadelphia/Baltimore Stars, then the Saints, then Carolina — he’s always worked toward being included as a major piece of the puzzle in an organization. This would be kind of the final graduation. This would be, ‘Hey, you are part of the ultimate football family.’”
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KEEP POUNDING, FOREVER
Mills’ stats haven’t changed over the past two decades, but his candidacy has gained traction. In his first 17 years of eligibility, he never made it to the final 15. Now he has, twice in a row.
It has something to do with how good of an ambassador he was for football, someone who was beloved in two different organizations and created a motto for one. Mills never came close to winning a Super Bowl, and his lack of postseason success undoubtedly works against him in the voting. But it’s not his fault that Bobby Hebert and Kerry Collins played quarterback for the majority of Mills’ NFL teams.
Mills will make it to that “final graduation” one day. As for Mills III, who helped Washington make a surprise appearance in the playoffs in Ron Rivera’s first year as head coach there, he will keep remembering his father.
“I’ve always kept it as two separate things, to be honest,” Mills III said. “There’s Sam Mills, my father, the family guy. We are a private, close-knit family. And then there’s Sam Mills, the linebacker, the one that the football world knows. Father-wise, it’s personal. Football-wise, I have a lot of reminders of his career around my house and in my office. So there are really two different buckets for me to pull from every day.”
To close our conversation, I asked Mills III if he had been tempted to bring a version of the “Keep Pounding” speech his father gave to Washington, or to use those words when trying to motivate players like star rookie defensive end Chase Young.
“Oh no, no, no,” Mills III said. “The phrase ‘Keep Pounding’ is only for Carolina. It stays there, forever.”
