'The Bachelor' season 30 to feature NFL quarterback Sam Hartman
One NFL quarterback will soon be passing roses as well as footballs.
Sam Hartman, a 27-year-old quarterback for the Washington Commanders, has been named the next star of ABC's "The Bachelor," which returns for its milestone 30th season in March 2027.
"I’m excited but also very nervous," Hartman said Friday on "Good Morning America" in his first interview about his search for love, later adding, "I have a tough time holding conversation with one girl. 30 is going to be pretty tough."
Hartman, who signed with the Washington Commanders as an undrafted free agent in 2024, said he was initially hesitant about looking for love on television but had a change of mind after talking with Jesse Palmer, a former NFL star who is now host of "The Bachelor" and "The Bachelorette."
"He kind of gave me the insight and gave me kind of what it is and what it's not," Hartman said of Palmer, adding of his decision to join the show, "I know one thing, when people are saying, ‘I do,’ they don’t ask you where you met, they just ask if you want to do it forever. I don’t see any problem with that."
Prior to joining the NFL, Hartman, a North Carolina native, played college football at Wake Forest University, where he set several school records and became one of the most accomplished quarterbacks in Atlantic Coast Conference history.
In 2022, while playing at Wake Forest, Hartman was diagnosed with Paget-Schroetter syndrome, a rare condition that causes blood clots in a vein near the collarbone, according to the National Library of Medicine.
He returned to the field that season and received the ACC's Brian Piccolo Award, which recognizes the conference's "most courageous" football player.
Hartman finished his college career with 134 touchdown passes, an ACC record, after playing five seasons at Wake Forest and transferring to the University of Notre Dame for his final season in 2023.
Hartman said that when his search for love begins, he'll be looking for someone with a competitive spirit "in a way that they have a drive for something and that motivates me to wake up every day and chase them."
The NFL star said he'll also be looking for someone with compassion and a sense of caregiving.
"My whole family is in the medicine field," Hartman said. "There’s a part of me that, seeing them do so much for other people, I think that’s a huge part."
And describing the advice he received from his dad, a surgeon, and his mom, a nurse, Hartman said, "Their big thing is just be myself and enjoy the experience and trust the instincts and trust your gut."
Season 30 of "The Bachelor" premieres Sunday, March 21, at 8 p.m. ET on ABC and streams the next day on Hulu.
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