The Washington Commanders have relieved defensive line coach Sam Mills III of his duties. Commanders head coach Ron Rivera made the announcement on Tuesday.
Rivera said the decision to let Mills go was more about the defensive line’s progress in training camp than the unit underperforming last season. Assistant defensive line coach Jeff Zgonina has been promoted to replace Mills.
Mills coached Washington’s defensive line the past two seasons. He came over with Rivera from the Carolina Panthers when Rivera was hired as the commanders head coach in 2020.
Mills was a longtime assistant with the Panthers, joining the team in 2005. He was promoted assistant defensive line coach in 2011 by Rivera. In 2018 he was promoted to defensive line coach and served the role until through the 2019 season.
Rivera called the decision to let Mills go “very difficult” given their longtime relationship.
“I’ve known Sam a long time and he’s a very good football coach and I appreciate everything he’s done,” Rivera said per Nicki Jhabvala of the Washington Post. “He helped us win a division our first year and just things got tough last year. But there are some things I felt I wanted to change.”
The defensive line is viewed as the commanders’ strongest position led by four first-round draft picks, Jonathan Allen, Daron Payne, Chase Young and Montez Sweat. Last year’s struggles with the unit raised eyebrows.
In January, J.P. Finlay of NBC Sports Washington highlighted concerns of Mills’ relationship with the talented group.
“…sources suggest he might not have the ear of the position group. This season it’s hard to look at Washington’s D-Line performance and suggest the group maximized their talent.”
In his first year, the Commanders defensive line played a prominent role in the team winning the NFC East division title. Young, the No. 2 overall pick in 2020, won NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year.
Last season, the defensive line took a step back. Young had just 1.5 sacks before tearing his ACL in Week 10. Sweat had a drop off from 9.0 sacks in 2020 to 5.0 in 2021. The team struggled with creating pressure off the edge.
Two weeks into training camp is odd timing to relieve a coach of his duties. Rivera felt at this point “something had to be done” to address the situation.
Mills’ firing comes just days after his father, Sam Mills, was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
