The New Orleans Saints are honoring the life of famed “Dome Patrol” linebacker Sam Mills, who rose to prominence while teaming up with Pat Swilling, Vaughan Johnson, and Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee Rickey Jackson to form one of the NFL’s greatest defenses. They combined for 18 Pro Bowl appearances from 1986 to 1992, making NFL history by sending all four linebackers to the 1992 all-star game.
Mills died in 2005; Wednesday, June 3rd, would have been his 61st birthday. He joined the expansion-team Carolina Panthers after a prolific career with the Saints, coining the NFC South-rival’s motto of “Keep Pounding” and earning a bronze statue in his remembrance outside their home stadium in Charlotte.
To celebrate the occasion, the Saints shared a video highlighting Mills’ legacy in New Orleans from their official Twitter account — you can see it where we’ve embedded it above. It’s sampled from an episode centering on Mills from “A Football Life;” the full video can be found here, though it requires an NFL Game Pass subscription. Fortunately, a free trial is currently available through July.
Mills and his teammates set the standard for the Saints for decades to come, and it’s great to see that he’s still remembered and respected so well. Hopefully the Hall of Fame voters will one day agree that he’s deserving of a bust in Canton not too far from Jackson’s. Or maybe the Saints could get their own memorial up in front of the Superdome someday immortalizing all four members of the Dome Patrol.
