Little Sam Mills ran with big names, Lawrence Taylor, Chris Spielman, Clay Matthews ...

Ten quick notes on Class of 2022 Hall of Famer Sam Mills.

- The Sam Mills statue outside the Carolina Panthers' stadium speaks to Sam Mills' connection to Charlotte. He played there, he coached there, he died there.

The connection to his first NFL team, the Saints, is nearly as strong.

"Going back to New Orleans when my father got put in the Ring of Honor was like coming home," said Sam's son, Marcus. "For me, New Orleans and Charlotte are home."

- Cleveland might have been home, but the Browns cut Mills in the 1981 and '82 preseasons.

Browns head coach Sam Rutigliano allowed defensive coordinator Marty Schottenheimer to make the call. Like numerous others who evaluated Mills, Schottenheimer thought the 5-foot-9 linebacker was too short.

Mills spent three years in the USFL before catching on with the Saints. One of Mills' USFL teammates was linebacker Mike Johnson, who joined the Browns after the league disbanded. Schottenheimer had replaced Rutigliano as Cleveland's head coach.

- From the Saints' inception as an expansion team in 1967 through the time before Mills joined them in the mid-1980s, they never had a winning season.

Winning became a habit with Mills on the field. The Saints began to roll in 1987, when they opened with a 28-21 win over a Browns team that went on to the AFC finals. Mills was a fixture on Saints teams that went 12-3 in '87, 10-6 in '88, 9-7 in '89, 11-5 in '91 and 12-4 in '92.

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- Winning postseason honors was difficult. Mills played in an era of strong linebackers, including Lawrence Taylor, Andre Tippett, Carl Banks and Harry Carson. The Browns had two big talents, Clay Matthews and Chip Banks.

Mills made second-team All-Pro at inside linebacker in 1991. The first-teamers were Mike Singletary and Chris Spielman. Mills and Spielman made second team All-Pro in 1992, when Junior Seau was one of the first-teamers.

- A 2016 nfl.com article identified the Saints' Mills, Rickey Jackson, Vaughan Johnson and Pat Swilling as "the most dominant linebacking corps the league has ever seen."

They became known as The Dome Patrol.

They blew the roof during a 9-1 hot streak in 1991. In a 20-3 win over Washington, the Patrol held running back Earnest Byner to 29 yards on 13 carries.

Mills is the second Dome Patrol member to make the Hall of Fame, following Jackson, who was elected in 2010. Johnson made four straight Pro Bowls, from 1989-92. Swilling was NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 1991.

It was easy to spot the 5-9 Mills. Vaughan, Swilling and Jackson all were in the 6-3 range.

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- The Saints never won a playoff game with Mills, partly because the offense was no match for the defense.

Starting quarterbacks during Mills' nine seasons (1986-94) were Dave Wilson, Bobby Hebert, John Fourcade, Wade Wilson, Steve Walsh, Mike Buck and Jim Everett.

In a 16-6 playoffs loss to the Bears in 1990, Fourcade and Walsh both played, combining to go 11-for-34, with three interceptions.

- Dom Capers, one of Mount Union's favorite sons, helped coach the Saints' defense during six of Mills' seasons (1986-91. Capers jumped to Pittsburgh as defensive coordinator when Bill Cowher took over the Steelers in 1992.

After Capers became head coach of the expansion Panthers in 1995, Mills jumped from the Saints to Carolina as a free agent.

There is an "i" in Mills' surname, but Capers looked past it when Mills became the first Panther player in the franchise's Ring of Honor, saying, "There is no I in Sam Mills. He's a we-our-us guy."

Capers is still coaching. He coached with the Detroit Lions last year and, at 71, is on the Denver Broncos' 2022 staff.

- Capers and Mike McCormack both had a hand in bringing Mills to the Panthers in 1995, after he spent nine years with the Saints.

McCormack, who is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a Cleveland Browns offensive lineman, was the expansion Panthers' first general manager.

The Panthers hit the ground running, having prepared years before their first game. In 1989, McCormack was part of the group that began pursuing an expansion franchise. He became general manager in 1993, two years before the inaugural season.

Eventually, McCormack was named president and hired Bill Polian as general manager.

McCormack, who was 83 when he died in 2013, and Mills, who was 45 when he died in 2005, are the only two men honored with statues outside Carolina's stadium.

- Mills met his wife, Melanie, when they were students at Long Branch High School, near the Atlantic Ocean in southern New Jersey.

"We lived about two blocks from the beach," Melanie said — the school nickname was Green Wave. "We didn't know each other until a family member introduced us.

"Sam had lots of friends, in high school and then in college. He was very serious about athletics. He was a very good wrestler. He ran track. He would tell me about one of his football coaches who was very much into studying films."

- Sam didn't stick with a pro team until his third year out of Montclair State. He made the roster of the Philadelphia Stars.

"The USFL was a fun league," Melanie said. "The rules allowed celebrations. The Stars won championships.

"Then we were with the Saints and it was a football life. I was president of the wives organization. The Saints of the 1980s and early '90s were a good team, and that was a lot of fun, too."

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Sam Mills stood with Lawrence Taylor, other Hall of Famers