Sam Hartman has spent his NFL career waiting for his first regular-season snap. Now he is about to take on a much bigger audience. ABC named the Washington Commanders quarterback the lead of Season 30 of The Bachelor on November 13, a casting that came while he was still on the team’s practice squad. The 27-year-old signed with Washington as an undrafted free agent in 2024 and has yet to appear in an NFL regular-season game.
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Hartman initially admitted he was hesitant to accept the opportunity. However, a conversation with the show’s host, Jesse Palmer, helped change his mind. Palmer understands the crossover between professional football and reality television firsthand. He was a New York Giants backup quarterback when he became the lead of Season 5 in 2004, and he later returned to The Bachelor franchise as its host.
His casting has also drawn attention to an unusual keepsake: a necklace made from a piece of his own rib. ESPN analyst Mina Kimes was asked during a Yahoo Sports discussion whether the rib necklace was a red flag or a green flag ahead of his turn as the Bachelor.
“It’s a little weird, I don’t know. It’s like a bone necklace? That’s strange,” Kimes said.
Kimes stopped short of calling it a red flag, but her reaction did not suggest she saw it as a green flag either.
The story behind the necklace is quite personal. Hartman was diagnosed with Paget-Schroetter syndrome in August 2022 after developing a blood clot in his subclavian vein near the collarbone. The condition required treatment to remove the clot and surgery to relieve pressure on the affected blood vessel, including the removal of his first rib. Rather than leave the bone behind, Hartman asked his doctors if he could keep it.
The recovery initially put his football career in doubt. After treatment and surgery, however, he returned to the practice field in less than a month and made his season debut for Wake Forest on September 10, 2022, after missing the team’s opener. He went on to receive the ACC’s Brian Piccolo Award that November, recognizing his courage in overcoming the medical setback.
The removed rib eventually became jewelry. After Hartman transferred to Notre Dame in January 2023, his mother, Lisa, cleaned the bone and crafted it into a necklace featuring puka shells. He wore it publicly ahead of the Fighting Irish’s season opener against Navy in Dublin that August. He completed his final college season at Notre Dame in 2023 and finished his collegiate career with 134 touchdown passes, an ACC record.
Kimes’ necklace comment came during a lighter exchange about Hartman’s plans for the show. On Good Morning America, Hartman said he would put contestants through competitive drills, and Kimes was asked which drill she considered the best indicator of a player’s ability.
“Well, I’m partial to the three-cone. I think it’s the best indicator because it shows you agility and game speeds,” Kimes explained.
Kimes then tied the idea back to dating, suggesting that the psychological assessments now done at the Combine might be more relevant to finding a partner than any physical drill.
“They do, at the Combine, it’s not a physical drill, but I know they do a lot of like, psychological type testing now, and that probably is a little bit more pertinent to finding a partner,” Kimes added.
Hartman, for his part, has been upfront that the dating side of this challenge won’t come naturally. Instead of reading defenses, he will now have to hold conversations with 30 potential partners, and he joked about the prospect on Good Morning America.
“I have a tough time holding conversation with one girl. 30 is going to be pretty tough,” Hartman admitted.
Season 30 of The Bachelor is scheduled to premiere on March 21, 2027, on ABC, with episodes streaming on Hulu the following day. Hartman will have to navigate conversations with 30 potential partners rather than read a defense across the line of scrimmage.