As Sam Hartman looks to secure his NFL roster spot within the Washington Commanders quarterback room, the former Notre Dame gunslinger officially secured a UFL fallback plan on Wednesday.
The Birmingham Stallions selected Hartman in the ninth round of the league's 2024 College Draft, ensuring that the back-to-back UFL Champions would have exclusive rights to the player should he enter the UFL.
Hartman initially entered the NFL after exhausting his collegiate eligibility with the Fighting Irish in 2023 but went all seven rounds without hearing his name called. However, two days after the draft ended, the 6'1 quarterback was among 11 players signed to the Commanders as an undrafted free agent.
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Washington offered Hartman a particularly generous payday for an undrafted free agent, agreeing to a 3-year, $2.85 million contract with a $20,000 signing bonus and $245,000 guaranteed. This upfront money is generally offered to free agents expected to make the final 53-man or practice squad roster.
The Commanders selected another quarterback in LSU star Jayden Daniels with the second pick in the 2023 NFL Draft after adding a former No. 2 overall selection, Marcus Mariota, in March, with these two gunslingers set to compete for the starting job in Washington. Hartman survived the first round of quarterback casualties in May when the team cut veteran reserve Jake Fromm, and is currently battling with Jeff Driskel for the third-string role.
Only 13 NFL teams carried a third-string quarterback on their gameday in 2023, and with a new rule this offseason allowing the required emergency third-string quarterback to come from the practice squad, likely even fewer gunslingers will make the 53-man roster.
Should Hartman lose his NFL roster spot this season, however, a decision to enter the UFL would present another taxing quarterback battle with another longtime college quarterback: Adrian Martinez. Across five seasons at Nebraska and Kansas State, Martinez appeared in 49 games and enjoyed his most successful season as a super senior in Manhattan, forming a lethal dual-quarterback system with Will Howard that led the Wildcats to 10 wins.
Martinez continues this dominance on the ground into his UFL career, leading the league in rushing as a quarterback with 528 yards in 10 games. He would later scoop up MVP honors and lead Birmingham to its third consecutive minor league championship.
Conversely, Hartman has attracted professional consideration almost entirely through his arm talent, currently tied for fifth all-time in passing yards among FBS players. The Charlotte native remained in the Tar Heel State to begin college at Wake Forest, earning nine starts as a true freshman in 2018 and setting the Demon Deacons' single-season record for both passing yards (4,228) and touchdowns (39) in 2021.
After matching a school record of 11 wins and posting an even more efficient season the following year, Hartman spent his final year of eligibility with Notre Dame but struggled to produce the same prolific numbers in the Irish's pro-style offense.
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