Sam Hartman Is the New Bachelor: Who the Commanders QB Is

The next Bachelor wears a Commanders helmet on weekdays. ABC named Washington quarterback Sam Hartman the lead of The Bachelor season 30 on Friday morning, bringing him out on Good Morning America for his first interview about the job.

He didn't oversell his chances. "I'm excited but also very nervous," Hartman said, according to ABC News. Then the line that will probably end up in the promos: "I have a tough time holding conversation with one girl. 30 is going to be pretty tough."

Hartman's name had shown up on almost no one's list. By mid-morning, "Sam Hartman" was the top search in Google Trends in the U.S., with more than 20,000 searches.

Who is Sam Hartman, the new Bachelor?

Hartman is 27 and from the Charlotte area of North Carolina. Football fans know him better than reality TV fans do, mostly from his college career.

He spent five years at Wake Forest, where he became one of the most productive passers the Atlantic Coast Conference has had. His 2021 season was the big one: the Demon Deacons went 11-3 and he threw for nearly 4,300 yards and 39 touchdowns, plus 11 more scores on the ground, Yahoo Sports noted. He left with ACC records for career touchdown passes and 300-yard passing games, per Variety.

In 2022, he was diagnosed with Paget-Schroetter syndrome, a rare condition that causes blood clots in a vein near the collarbone. He returned that same season and won the ACC's Brian Piccolo Award, which goes to the conference's most courageous player, ABC News reported. That story is the kind of backstory the show tends to lean on.

He transferred to Notre Dame for 2023, his final college season, and threw 24 touchdowns as the Irish went 9-3. Some viewers may also remember him from Netflix's "QB1: Beyond the Lights," which followed high school quarterbacks, as TVLine pointed out.

Sam Hartman's NFL career with the Commanders

This is where the "NFL quarterback" label needs a footnote. Hartman went undrafted in 2024 and signed with Washington, and he has spent most of his time since on the practice squad. The team brought him back to the practice squad in early September, CBS Sports reported. Yahoo Sports says he hasn't played in a regular-season game.

So he's a real pro quarterback, just not one you'd see on Sundays. Jayden Daniels is the starter, and he threw three touchdown passes in Thursday night's 24-21 win over the Giants that kept Washington's season alive, according to The Guardian.

When does The Bachelor start in 2027?

The Bachelor season 30 premieres Sunday, March 21, 2027, at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC, and episodes stream on Hulu the next day. ABC set the date on Nov. 6 when it released its midseason schedule, Entertainment Weekly reported.

Two things are different this time:

• The night. The show is moving to Sundays from its long-time Monday slot.
• The month. Bachelor seasons have usually started in January. This one waits until the end of March.

That leaves an obvious scheduling question. Practice squad players work all season, and the NFL regular season runs into January. Neither ABC nor the Commanders has said when filming happens or how it fits around his football contract.

Why season 30 matters for Bachelor Nation

Variety described the show as returning "after two years off the air." The last Bachelor lead was Grant Ellis, whose season aired in early 2025.

Since then, the franchise has had a rough stretch. Taylor Frankie Paul's season of The Bachelorette was pulled shortly before its March premiere after footage of her 2023 domestic violence arrest resurfaced, according to Entertainment Weekly. That makes Hartman the first lead of any season in the main franchise since that cancellation.

Disney unscripted chief Rob Mills has admitted the show went through "growing pains" and promised the next season would be made "with a lot of thoughtfulness and care," EW reported. Deadline reported that Scott Teti, a Bachelor in Paradise showrunner, would take over the main show.

Picking a likable athlete with no reality TV history reads like a reset. He brings a comeback story, a recognizable college résumé and a day job most contestants can't match.

Has an NFL player been the Bachelor before?

Yes, once. Jesse Palmer, then a New York Giants quarterback, was the lead in 2004. He played one more NFL season and later moved into broadcasting. Palmer is now The Bachelor's host and an ESPN college football analyst, so the 2027 season will have a quarterback on both sides of the rose ceremony.

Palmer didn't marry anyone he met on the show. Another former quarterback had better luck: Jordan Rodgers was picked by JoJo Fletcher on The Bachelorette, and the two married in 2022, Yahoo Sports noted.

Hartman joked about the scale of it on GMA. He's used to reading a defense in a few seconds. Getting to know 30 women in a few weeks is a different kind of film study, and in March, viewers get to grade it.