Mills Has Been a Good Deal for New Orleans : Saints Are Sold on Their Pro Bowl Linebacker and Budding Auto Magnate

Would you buy a used car from Sam Mills? Sure you would.

What you wouldn’t do, and Eric Dickerson can vouch for this, is try to sneak past him with a football.

Mills, a Pro Bowl linebacker and aspiring auto magnate, feels the same away about ballcarriers as he does about wisecracking customers who say that if a car salesman’s lips are moving, he’s lying.

Dickerson, who was then with the Rams, found out the hard way one climate-controlled day in the New Orleans Superdome in 1986. If Dickerson bent down to tie his shoes, Mills and his Saint buddies were there to adjust his socks--and then knock them off.

Dickerson limped away with 57 yards--only 8 in the second half--to show for his many aches. The Rams lost, 6-0, and all of a sudden, everyone knew about a miniature linebacker named Mills and his 11 tackles.

A legend was unleashed that day. Move over, Rickey Jackson, the Saints’ most visible defensive player to date. Make room for Mills, all 5 feet 9 3/4 inches and 225 pounds of him.

“If you saw me, you wouldn’t even think I’m a linebacker,” Mills said. “Most people think I’m a fullback or something.”

The way Mills figures it, though, you don’t measure a football player with a yardstick, but by results.

That explains why he was in Honolulu last February for the annual Pro Bowl game. It tells you why he played in three United States Football League championship games and why he regularly finishes games with double-digit tackling statistics. And it helps explain why Saint Coach Jim Mora--who was Mills’ coach in the USFL, too--worked so hard to bring Mills to New Orleans.

Mora knew the real Mills, not the one who, on a resume, seemed to be a pipsqueak. Although other coaches saw Montclair State, Mills’ old school in New Jersey, Mora saw a big hitter in a little man’s body. So what if Mills never made it out of the Cleveland Browns’ training camp in 1981? That’s the Browns’ loss, not Mills’.

And about that brief stay in the Canadian Football League in 1981? The more experience, the better, Mora decided.

“We knew right away that (Mills) was one of the ones we wanted to have down here,” Mora said.

There was a bidding war of sorts for Mills. Vince Tobin, Mora’s defensive coordinator with the USFL’s Philadelphia Stars, accepted a similar job with the Chicago Bears just one day after coming to New Orleans. One of the first players he tried to recruit to Chicago was Mills.

But Mora had an edge. Whereas the Bears used a single inside linebacker, Mike Singletary, the Saints were offering two inside positions. Mills considered the possibilities and chose the Saints and Mora.

“We have a good relationship,” Mills said. “Coach Mora really believes in me. After (the USFL) folded up, he brought me out here. After the (National Football League) rejected me, he gave me an opportunity.”

As circumstances would have it, Mills was a sure thing waiting to be discovered. Small? Sure. Devoted? Don’t ask.

“I’m a real intense player,” he said.

Mills screams on the field. He shouts orders like a Parris Island drill instructor. In his mind, he stands 6-4 and weighs 250. You there--offensive guard--out of my way. Aha--running back--time to meet the turf.

That is the way Mills thinks out there. Each play is a battle. Each tackle is one more piece of evidence that he belongs in the league. It is the inspiration that drives him. He’s the little linebacker that could.

“I always feel like that if I get in a game against a team I’ve never played against before . . . that I’ll show them,” Mills said. “I feel that I’ve got to show them off the bat that I’m there to compete and they’ll have to beat me.”

It seems to work. Mills led the Stars in tackles each of the 3 seasons he was there. He started all 12 non-replacement games last year at one of the two inside linebacker positions. This year is no different--he made 9 tackles against the Rams 2 weeks ago and gets another crack at them Sunday at Anaheim Stadium--except that he has a reputation to tend to.

“I basically did it the long hard way,” he said of his rise to semi-stardom. “But I did it.”

Even finding a jersey number he wanted was difficult. When he arrived in New Orleans, linebacker Alvin Toles had Mills’ favorite number, 54. So Mills improvised. He chose No. 51, in honor of Dick Butkus, the Bear legend who is the patron saint of linebackers everywhere.

“It’s just like when you think of a great running back, you think of No. 32 (O.J. Simpson),” Mills said. “When you think of a great linebacker, you think of No. 51--Butkus. It was a good number to take.”

Mills can do little wrong these days. He was smart enough to accept Mora’s invitation in 1986. He made the Pro Bowl in 1987. He’s part of a team that seems bound for postseason play.

Now, Mills would like to keep it that way, which is why he accepted another invitation last off-season.

He took a position with the Benson Management Co. in New Orleans as a car dealership trainee. The company is owned by Tom Benson, who also owns the Saints, as well as 25 dealerships spread over Louisiana and Texas.

As part of his training, Mills will learn how to finance a car, evaluate trade-ins, buy cars, run a service department and sell new and used cars.

As for his lot-side manner, Mills said he isn’t worried. He said he’ll be the car salesman who cares, the no-pressure salesman. That should be a trick, since he’s built like Mike Tyson.

“Nah, they got (salesmen) who look meaner than I do,” Mills said.

What Mills lacks in technique, he plans to make up in reputation. That was part of the reason he took the job.

“I thought, ‘I sure would like to be my own boss,’ ” he said. “I just felt that because of some of the things that I’ve done, I felt like I might be good at something like this.”

But first things first, like the rest of his NFL career. Turns out he’s good at this, too.