A No. 1 pick at last: Dolphins great Zach Thomas told he’ll speak first at Hall of Fame induction
Zach Thomas was nobody’s top college recruit out of high school in Texas and far from a first-round draft pick in the NFL.
“I never got the respect I felt I needed,” he said. “That was my motivation.”
Now, as the great Miami Dolphins linebacker who spent a career proving doubters wrong prepares to enter the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Thomas at long last finally is a No. 1 pick.
He will make the first acceptance speech of nine new inductees on August 5 in Canton, Ohio, he has been told. The Hall does not reveal how it selects the order each year, but speaking first or last are generally considered to be the best spots. Thomas is being inducted along with (alphabetically) Ronde Barber, Don Coryell, Chuck Howley, Joe Klecko, Darrelle Revis, Ken Riley, Joe Thomas and DeMarcus Ware. Each speaker will be give 10 to 12 minutes.
Thomas had previously revealed in February that his former Dolphins coach Jimmy Johnson would present him for induction.
“All day long,” he said then of his choice. “He’s the guy that gave me a start my rookie year.”
It was Johnson who four months ago surprised Thomas at his home with the news he’d finally been selected.
Johnson drafted Thomas in the fifth round out of Texas Tech in 1996. Johnson himself was inducted in Canton in 2020, and presented Thomas’ longtime teammate Jason Taylor for induction in 2017.
Thomas had been bypassed 10 times for induction before finally getting the call, despite having more career tackles than any linebacker in the Hall of Fame other than Ray Lewis. Johnson calls Thomas “the hardest-working player I ever coached.”
