The Washington Commanders just can’t have a normal week.
head coach Ron Rivera announced that the team had been fired Defensive Line Coach Sam Mills on Tuesday, just over a month before the start of the 2022 season.
Mills was entering his 18th season in the NFL and his third with Washington after joining Rivera of the Carolina Panthers in 2020. He is the son of former New Orleans Saints and Panthers linebacker Sam Mills, who was posthumously elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2022 after his death in 2005.
Rivera added that exonerating Mills was “very difficult” because of his relationship with his family.
“I’ve known Sam for a long time and he’s a very good football coach and I appreciate everything he’s done,” Rivera said Tuesday. “He helped us win a league in our first year and last year it just got difficult. But there are some things I thought I wanted to change.”
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A big week for NFL teams
This week also signals a postponement for NFL teams heading into the 2022 season.
No, we’re not talking about the first episode of this season’s “Hard Knocks” starring Dan Campbell, Jamaal Williams and the Detroit Lions.
Between Thursday and Sunday, all 32 teams will play a pre-season game and begin to grow together as a unit. And with that comes more important drills leading up to a player’s first action on the pitch since January.
Sam Mills III will no longer be the Commanders’ defensive line coach. (Photo by John McDonnell/The Washington Post via Getty Images)