Rylie Mills
American football player (born 2001)
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Rylie Mills (born August 20, 2001) is an American professional football defensive tackle for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and was selected by the Seahawks in the fifth round of the 2025 NFL draft.
Lake Bluff, Illinois, U.S.
| No. 98 – Seattle Seahawks | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position | Defensive tackle | ||||
| Roster status | Active | ||||
| Personal information | |||||
| Born | August 20, 2001 Lake Bluff, Illinois, U.S. | ||||
| Listed height | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) | ||||
| Listed weight | 296 lb (134 kg) | ||||
| Career information | |||||
| High school | Lake Forest (Lake Forest, Illinois) | ||||
| College | Notre Dame (2020–2024) | ||||
| NFL draft | 2025: 5th round, 142nd overall pick | ||||
| Career history | |||||
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| Awards and highlights | |||||
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| Career NFL statistics as of 2025 | |||||
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Early life
Mills attended Lake Forest High School in Lake Forest, Illinois where he also competed in the shot put and discus.[1] He committed to the University of Notre Dame to play college football and enrolled early beginning in the spring semester of 2020.[2]
During Notre Dame's 27-17 win over Indiana during the first round of the 2024 College Football Playoff, Mills suffered a torn ACL while sacking Indiana quarterback Kurtis Rourke. Although Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman initially said there was "optimism" Mills could have returned for the team's next game against Georgia, he was ruled out of the rest of the season on December 23.[3]
College career
As a true freshman at Notre Dame in 2020, Mills played in 9 games and made his first start in the 2021 Rose Bowl against Alabama. He played in all 13 games in 2022 and recorded 24 total tackles throughout the season.[1][4][5][6]
Statistics
| Year | Team | Games | Tackles | Interceptions | Fumbles | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Total | Solo | Ast | Sack | PD | Int | Yds | TD | FF | FR | TD | ||
| 2020 | Notre Dame | 10 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 5 | 0.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2021 | Notre Dame | 13 | 0 | 16 | 8 | 8 | 3.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2022 | Notre Dame | 13 | 9 | 24 | 8 | 16 | 3.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2023 | Notre Dame | 13 | 13 | 47 | 22 | 25 | 2.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 2024 | Notre Dame | 13 | 13 | 37 | 19 | 18 | 7.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Career | 62 | 36 | 131 | 59 | 72 | 17.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
Professional career
| Height | Weight | Arm length | Hand span | Wingspan | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 ft 5+3⁄8 in (1.97 m) | 291 lb (132 kg) | 32+5⁄8 in (0.83 m) | 9+7⁄8 in (0.25 m) | 6 ft 7+3⁄4 in (2.03 m) | ||||||||
| All values from NFL Combine[7][8] | ||||||||||||
Mills was selected by the Seattle Seahawks with the 142nd pick in the fifth round of the 2025 NFL draft.[9][10] On July 15, Mills was among six Seahawks rookies placed on the non-football injury list following his ACL tear at Notre Dame.[11] He was activated from the list on December 13.[12] He made his NFL debut the next day, playing seven snaps in Seattle's 18-16 win over the Indianapolis Colts.[13] He recorded his first career sack during the second quarter of Super Bowl LX on February 8, 2026, when he pushed New England Patriots guard Jared Wilson into quarterback Drake Maye.[14]