After 12 long months post-knee surgery, Rylie Mills finally, fully a Seahawk

It was the day after a grinding game. Rylie Mills was doing with Uchenna Nwosu in the locker room what these Seahawks do all the time, all over the room, to bond.

They were playfully shadowboxing, complete with sound effects.

“Hissssssss!” Nwosu, Seattle’s veteran linebacker, seethed at Mills.

“Hissssssss!” the rookie defensive lineman responded, as he slipped Nwosu’s air jab and threw one back.

After 12 long months of lonely, seemingly endless rehabilitation, Mills is finally, fully in the brotherhood.

He is playing for the Seahawks. The 6-foot-5, 296-pound Mills tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee during Notre Dame’s run in the College Football Playoffs in late December 2024. Seahawks general manager John Schneider drafted him in the fifth round this spring. Their medical staff estimated Mills would return to playing by late this season.

“They nailed it,” coach Mike Macdonald said Monday.

Mills was off the field for 12 months. Every work day, from April until two weeks ago, he dutifully rehabilitated in the Seahawks training room. He attended every defensive-line, defense and team meeting. He stood on the side during drills at practices. He listened and took notes, mental and written. Veteran defensive linemen Leonard Williams and DeMarcus Lawrence shared with him their wisdom of 23 seasons and six Pro Bowls combined of NFL defensive-line play.

“Yeah, it was a tough experience. Honestly, at times I wanted to be frustrated about it,” Mills told The News Tribune Sunday.

“But this is probably the best thing to happen, to end up here and be in this situation. You know, I get to be in a great room and learn from great guys. I’m just trying to make the most of it.”

He was speaking over music blaring off the walls off the locker room at Lumen Field, following yet another Seahawks win. Mills made his NFL debut playing seven snaps at defensive tackle and end as Seattle beat the Indianapolis Colts 18-16 to move to 11-3 this season. Mills was designated to return to practice three weeks ago from the non-football-injury list (that’s the designation the league uses for injuries that happen outside of an NFL team’s official team workouts or games). He practiced fully for the first time four days before the Colts game.

“Obviously, I just started playing football three weeks ago. But I’ve been locked in the meetings,” Mills said. “I feel everything’s coming along really well. Honestly, every day, every practice, even this game I feel like I’m getting better every day.

“Just trying to get 1% better every day.”

It was one of the most unusual debuts for a rookie draft pick in Seahawks history. Mills played his first NFL game for an 11-3 team. Seattle is three wins in the final three regular-season weeks from winning the NFC West and earned the top seed in the conference playoffs. The next task: Thursday night at home against the Los Angeles Rams (11-3), for pole position in that division race.

The only three times the Seahawks have been to the Super Bowl — to end the 2005, ‘13 and ‘14 seasons — they’ve done it after being the NFC’s top seed.

“It’s crazy!” Mills said of debuting in a December playoff push instead of an early-season game in September.

“It’s way more fun when you are winning then when you are losing.”

Macdonald and defensive coordinator Aden Durde and defensive line coach Justin Hinds have been waiting, and planning, for Mills to do exactly this along the line of scrimmage. Exactly right now.

“We really want him to be part of the equation here coming down into the last quarter of the season,” Macdonald said. “He showed in practice (that) he was executing at a high level, so we felt like it was warranted for him to get the reps. He’s been all cleared healthy physically, so there’s really nothing holding him back going to the game.

“I’m glad we did it. Now he’s got some reps under his belt going into this (Rams) game and going into the next couple of weeks.” Was there ever a thought as October became November became December to give Mills a “redshirt” season, all of it off learning toward playing a full 2026 season?

No.

“That’s a tribute to our docs, just being able to diagnose that. And then John making the decision to bring him in during the draft process to really figure out what was going on,” Macdonald said. “And they nailed it...they nailed the timeline.

“Our trainers and Rylie made it come to life, too. It’s easy to slap a timeline on it, as we know. But to hit the timeline is a whole other animal. That was the idea the whole time of, let’s try to get them back down the stretch.”

Rylie Mills, team guy

What kind of defensive lineman are the Seahawks getting in Mills?

At Notre Dame, he was primarily an end, more outside with or outside offensive tackles. Macdonald, Durde and Hinds see Mills more as versatile tackle and end. They had him lined up opposite the Colts guards Sunday in his debut.

“We feel like he can play the A gap, too. Macdonald said of the space between the center and guard. “Probably more than we’re putting Leo (Leonard Williams) in the A gap.”

Yet the coach isn’t about to hand Mills a larger role right away without competition with tackles Brandon Pili and Jarran Reed. Pili has been strong on short-yardage plays this season. Reed, the 10th-year veteran, is integral to the soul of the team.

“But he’s got to keep on coming on,” Macdonald said Monday of Mills.

“I think Pili has been playing well. Now that we have J-Reed back, J-Reed can play both (inside and outside opposing guards).

“If we can get him rolling,” the head coach said of Mills, “we’ve got a pretty good front that we can put out there.”

“The guy’s 300 pounds and strong as an ox. There’s no reason he shouldn’t be able to do it (at inside tackle).”

Mills is for up for whatever his coaches want.

“Just being here, getting this opportunity, it’s pretty rare for a lot of people. I’m just trying to maximize it,” Mills said. “I’ve got guys like ‘A.D.’ and Coach Hines that believe in me. That just keeps me going and wanting to work even harder.”

What kind of guy are the Seahawks getting in Mills?

He tore his anterior cruciate ligament in his knee in Notre Dame’s first-round playoff win over Indiana in South Bend 13 months ago. The Irish advanced to play Georgia in the Sugar Bowl New Year’s weekend. Notre Dame’s medical staffers prohibited Mills from flying to New Orleans to be with his team. They feared blood clots in his leg.

“After we won that game, I was like, ‘Look, I can’t sit at home and watch another game on the couch.’ I was going insane,” Mills told the TNT on KJR radio after the Seahawks drafted him in May.

Notre Dame was next playing in the Orange Bowl against Penn State in the College Football Semifinals. Mills got a deal with an RV dealer in Elkhart, Indiana, a half hour from South Bend, thanks to one of Notre Dame’s donors.

He took a 25-hour RV ride from Indiana to Miami to be with his Fighting Irish.

“Me, my parents, my girlfriend, the dog, and my uncle Paul, who is a firefighter, drove straight down to Miami for the Orange Bowl,” Mills said, chuckling. “We got closer as a family. That’s all I know.”

Rylie Mills #Seahawks' 5th-rd pick Notre Dame DL, tore ACL 1st-rd of the CFP. Doctors feared a blood clot, wouldn't let him fly to ATL for next rd. ND wins, advanced to Orange Bowl.

So Mills took a 25-hr RV ride "me, my parents, my girlfriend & our dog" to the game in Miami.

— Gregg Bell (@gbellseattle) April 26, 2025