Zach Thomas has made the list of Pro Football Hall of Fame finalists three times. Yet, 14 years after he retired from the NFL, the former linebacker remains wanting.
Brian Urlacher wonders how he made it into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on the first ballot in 2018 and Thomas doesn’t yet have a bust in Canton.
“I’m going to give you one guy – Zach Thomas,” Urlacher said on the Pat McAfee Show last week, via USA Today. “How the f--- is Zach Thomas not in the Hall of Fame? Put his stats up with mine, Ray [Lewis], any other linebacker who’s even close to the Hall of Fame or been in the Hall of Fame. He’s right there with us, if not better in every category. . . . It pisses me off. Every year I advocate for him to get in, and he was a finalist a couple years, but they don’t put him in. I don’t understand.”
In 184 NFL games, Thomas had 1,727 tackles, 17 interceptions, 20.5 sacks, 16 forced fumbles, eight fumble recoveries and four touchdowns. He made the Pro Bowl eight times, was a five-time All-Pro selection and made the all-decade team for the 2000s.
Thomas played 12 seasons for the Dolphins and retired after playing the 2008 season with the Cowboys.
It’s enough, in Urlacher’s mind, that Thomas already should have a bust in Canton.
“Maybe because he’s 5-10,” Urlacher said. “I don’t know. I have no idea. I don’t know. I don’t get it. It pisses me off.”