Typical Zach After Hall Call

Zach Thomas had a huge smile on the Zoom media call that followed his election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but more significantly he was the Zach Thomas he was throughout his time with the Miami Dolphins.

Always crediting and deferring to teammates during his playing days, Thomas wasn't going to change after receiving the greatest individual honor any NFL player can get.

“Oh, man. It’s amazing," Thomas said. "I’m just a small-town kid from West Texas, and for me to be here with all these greats and legends that I used to watch and even play with, it’s just an honor. It’s humbling and I’m just so grateful for everybody that helped me along the way because you’re not self-made.

"To end up being a Hall of Famer is crazy, man. It’s crazy when I think about it. I’m proud to represent all our defense. We had those great defenses when I played and I owe it to all those guys. I guess somebody has to get the credit. My D-line did all the work and I’ll take the credit (laughter). But I know this, is I’m so grateful for those guys, the linebackers that I played side by side. It was just a fun journey and it’s a humbling honor for me, but I’m just so grateful just to even get this far.”

Thomas is part of the nine-member Class of 2023, which includes five modern-era inductees. Joining Zach in the induction ceremonies in August will be Darrelle Revis, Joe Thomas, DeMarcus Ware and Ronde Barber. They were joined in the 2023 Class by former coach Don Coryell, Chuck Howley, Ken Riley and Joe Klecko.

Thomas became the 11th member of the Dolphins to be elected to the Hall of Fame, a recognition for his brilliant 11-year career in the middle of the Miami defense.

ZACH THOMAS WAS MAJOR FACTOR FOR GREAT DOLPHINS DEFENSES OF LATE 1990s/EARLY 2000s

When the defense had a run of five consecutive years (1998-2003) where it finished sixth or higher in total yards allowed, Thomas was right there in the middle — literally and figuratively.

As we've stated before, he deserves every bit as much recognition for those great defenses as first-ballot Hall of Famer, with maybe the best argument being his five first-team All-Pro nods compared to JT's three.

Thomas just never looked like a Hall of Famer — if there's such a thing — because he was smallish and not particularly fast, whereas Taylor looked exactly like what one would expect a Hall of Fame edge defender to look like.

Thomas just made play after play after play, relying on some crazy instincts and film work that any NFL player should try to duplicate.

"I didn’t fit the part," Thomas said. "I’m in the middle of the defense. You’re supposed to be the Dick Butkus, Brian Urlacher type look. And I didn’t fit that part. I feel like the one thing I will say that was really good of mine was my prep. My pre-snap was really good. Towards the end of my career. It wasn’t great from the beginning. But once you start fine-tuning everything, I was so happy and so confident going into every game (in my) later years.

"I’ve got to give myself the best chance and if you just get lined up right, your odds of winning on that play go up. I think that’s where I felt like I won was my pre-snap. So for me, that’s what I miss the most and that’s what I feel like was underappreciated was my pre-snap and how I lined my guys up once they came out with the formation.”

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ZACH THOMAS NOT SURPRISED, BUT GRATEFUL

Unlike JT, who was a first-ballot Hall of Fame inductee, Thomas had to wait a bit.

The call came after a decade of being eligible and in his fourth year as a finalist.

"I definitely am not surprised," Thomas said. "But I am grateful that I got this opportunity to get in because it’s hard to get in. It’s very hard. I’m finally in, man. You can’t take me out. I’m very blessed.

"Once you get into the finalists and you’re a finalist year after year, you get more of a chance. So I was very grateful for that. But I started feeling like I was inching closer and closer every time I was a finalist. My family, I would let them vent one day if I didn’t make it. And that’s it. Because the game has been so good to me. I’m never going to be ungrateful, even if I never made the Hall of Fame, because it’s so good to me. It’s set me for life, man.

"So again, for me to be up here and represent the former teammates that I had, I don’t know if they’re going to give us enough time for all of the guys that I owe in the induction speech now that they’ve shrunk it down to 10 minutes. But I’ll try my best because that defense we had from Sam (Madison) to Pat (Surtain) to ‘JT’ (Jason Taylor), Trace (Armstrong), ‘Tim-Bo’ (Tim Bowens), the interior with ‘Big Shorty’ (Daryl Gardener), Robert Jones, the linebackers, Derrick Rodgers, Morlon Greenwood. We just had so many great players around me. Brock Marion. It’s special. I know I’m probably leaving so many guys out that played a part in helping me get all the way here because it is a team game.”

It is a team game, but special players still stand out.

Zach Thomas was one of those players, and he's finally got the Hall of Fame recognition to prove it.

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