EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsRENTON, Wash. -- The most impressive play of the Seattle Seahawks' victory over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LX might not have been the one Devon Witherspoon made to set up Uchenna Nwosu's pick-six.Or any of the four combined sacks for Byron Murphy II and Derick Hall.Or anything that Kenneth Walker III did on his way to being named the game's MVP.Rylie Mills might have claimed that distinction for himself.In an eye-popping display of effort and power, the rookie defensive lineman drove Jared Wilson into the backfield with a bull rush, reached both arms around the 310-pound guard to get a hold of quarterback Drake Maye, then brought down both players for his first career sack."That was a big moment for him in the Super Bowl to have that confidence at the end of his rookie season," defensive tackle Leonard Williams said earlier last month. "That was a big-time play. It shows what type of potential he has as a player. I think he's going to take it to another level." After a college knee injury limited him to 34 snaps over six games last season, a healthy Mills is one of the Seahawks' breakout candidates in 2026. They're hardly hurting for difference-makers along their defensive line, one of the position groups that had the biggest hand in the second world championship in franchise history. But it's an older group that could use the emergence of another young player to boost its immediate depth and long-term prospects.Williams is 32 and entering the last year of his contract, while fellow defensive tackle Jarran Reed is 33. At outside linebacker, DeMarcus Lawrence is 34 and has considered retirement while his co-starter, Nwosu, is 29. Dante Fowler Jr., who joined that rotation in May on a one-year deal, is 31.Can Mills (24) join Murphy (23) and Hall (25) in Seattle's next wave of impact players? The on-field evidence is limited. As impressive as it was, his sack against New England was the only notable play he made during his condensed rookie season."I just ran through his face and then got to the quarterback," Mills said in the locker room postgame. "I told myself last night, I was like, no more thinking, just go. Sorry, I don't want to swear, but just f---ing go. And then I got in that moment, I just said, 'I'm going to go let it rip.'"The exuberance was understandable.At that time a year earlier, Mills still wasn't walking following surgery to repair a torn ACL. Then a senior and team captain at Notre Dame, he was hurt on a sack against Indiana in December 2024. It sidelined him for the remainder of the College Football Playoff and caused him to fall to Day 3 of the draft.Mills' predraft visit to the Virginia Mason Athletic Center, the club's headquarters and practice facility, further convinced the Seahawks that he possessed the football passion and competitive spirit they sought. It also left them more comfortable with his surgically repaired knee, as their exams showed he had made considerable progress in his rehab since the combine.If not for the injury, the feeling in the organization was that the 6-foot-5, 296-pound Mills might have been drafted late in the first round or early in the second. The Seahawks took him in the fifth round after some serious table-pounding from defensive coordinator Aden Durde. A former defensive line coach who still works closely with that position group, Durde wanted Mills badly."If we wouldn't have drafted him," general manager John Schneider joked that day, "I'm not sure if A.D. would've showed up for work on Monday."Mills spent most of his rookie season on the non-football injury list before making his debut in Week 15. He recorded three tackles in 28 defensive snaps over the final four games of the regular season. He was a healthy scratch for the divisional round, then played only one snap in the NFC Championship Game and five against New England.Since sacks became an official stat in 1982, only four other players have recorded their first one in a Super Bowl, according to ESPN Research."I've watched it a couple times -- maybe more than a couple," Mills said with a laugh. "I've seen it a few times. It was cool. It was just awesome. It's funny because I don't remember the play at all. I kind of just blacked out and went and then just remembered after the play just celebrating. But it's cool to look back like, man, that worked out perfect."Mills said he feels "100%" and all the way back to his pre-injury form. Williams described him as "a lot more bouncy" than last year."I think you're definitely going to see more plays from him, more game time from him this year," Williams said. "... He looks more confident on his knee, just looks more confident as a player. I think he's going to be a big help for us up front."During an 11-on-11 period of one OTA, Mills joined the list of players to be briefly sent to the sideline by Mike Macdonald for going too hard in what were supposed to be noncontact practices."Quit finishing your rushes, dude!" the coach yelled.Macdonald wanted his defenders to save that for August. The way Mills did it in February has the Seahawks hopeful that he can break out in Year 2."Looking back at it ... it kind of just felt like the end of a long chapter in my career," Mills said of his Super Bowl sack. "From the start of the injury and the rehab process, you go through so many different phases, and the ultimate goal is to get back to who I was and who I was before the injury. So I think that moment, a couple days after, I was like, that really was a storybook ending on it."But I feel like I closed that chapter and I'm ready to get going and for this next chapter to start."
