Overview
- ABC confirmed this weekend that 27-year-old Sam Hartman will be the lead of The Bachelor and the new U.S. season is set to begin on March 21.
- Hartman is currently on the Washington Commanders’ practice squad and has not appeared in a regular-season NFL game.
- Hartman told Good Morning America he first rejected the offer but accepted after a conversation with Jesse Palmer, the former NFL quarterback who was the franchise’s first U.S. Bachelor.
- Hartman built his reputation in college football at Wake Forest and Notre Dame, including a standout 2021 season with about 4,300 passing yards and 39 touchdown passes.
- The casting continues a pattern of current and former football players joining the franchise and could boost Hartman’s national profile while raising questions about how TV exposure might affect his developing NFL career.