Does Zach Thomas belong in the Pro Football Hall Of Fame? | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

Does Zach Thomas belong in the Pro Football Hall Of Fame?

tay0365

tay0365

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Did not see this anywhere.

This is a great article, and even though he does not ever answer his own question, he does make a great point why he should be considered.


Does former Miami Dolphins middle linebacker Zach Thomas belong in the NFL Hall of Fame? If you were to ask most Miami Dolphins fans the answer is yes, most certainly YES! Unfortunately for you and me and the rest of us that make up Dolphins Nation, we do not get to vote on who gets in and who does not. My mind set is that if a guy is a shoe in for your ring of honor then he should at least get strong national consideration for the HOF.
Zach's long time defensive teammate, best friend and brother in law, former Dolphins defensive end and linebacker Jason Taylor is a shoe in or at least that's the common belief among Dolphins fans. Luckily for us most of the national media seems to agree with Dolphins Nation. Most national media members, when asked agree that he has put together a HOF resume' based solely on his stats with special emphasis on his 139.5 career sacks placing him 6[SUP]th[/SUP] all time.
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With that in mind I decided to take a look at some of his contemporaries and compare their stats to what Zack did in his career. By contemporaries I mean other middle linebackers that played more or less at the same time as Zach Thomas and also at a very high level. Below you will see the comparisons. Given that a couple of the others on this list are shoe-ins for the NFL Hall Of Fame what do you think are Zachs chances and do you think he deserves to be inducted with all the other greatest players to ever play the game?
YRSSK/AVINT/AVTD's/AVPD/AVFF/AVFR/AVTD's/AVTKL/AV
Zach Thomas1320.5/1.5817/1.314/0.3138/2.9216/1.238/0.620/01727/132.85
Ray Lewis1741.5/2.4431/1.823/0.1881/4.7619/1.1220/1.180/02055/120.88
Junior Seau2056.5/2.8218/0.90/023/1.1511/0.5518/0.91/0.051846/92.3
Brian Urlacher1341.5/3.1922/1.692/0.1585/6.5411/0.8515/1.152/0.151354/104.15
James Farrior1535.5/2.3711/0.731/0.0761/4.0718/1.2012/0.80/01412/94.13
London Fletcher1639/2.4423/1.442/0.12587/5.4419/1.1912/0.751/0.062031/126.93
Tedy Bruschi1330.5/2.3512/0.924/0.3144/3.3817/1.317/0.540/01063/81.76
YRS=years played; SK=sacks; INT=interceptions; TD's=touchdowns; PD=passes defended; FF=forced fumbles; FR=fumble recoveries; TKL=tackles; AV=yearly average for each year played
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http://is.gd/q4zTSG

I have been saying from the beginning that before Zach retired, he was holding his own very well next to a guy like Ray Lewis. Ray may have averaged a bit better in sacks and ints per seasons, but Zach averaged better in tackles and forcing fumbles. Even if Ray Lewis is a no brainer, Zach does need to be a true consideration to be as good as he was compared to the other top players at his psoition.
 
I personally think he is a hall of famer but I don't think he will get in. Players get overrated because they play on superbowl teams or run their mouth a lot. Thomas was one of the best linebackers of his era but constantly got overlooked because of Ray Lewis.
Jason Taylor will get in esp based on him being such a great pass rusher which gets him the recognition.
 
dlockz said:
I personally think he is a hall of famer but I don't think he will get in. Players get overrated because they play on superbowl teams or run their mouth a lot. Thomas was one of the best linebackers of his era but constantly got overlooked because of Ray Lewis.
Jason Taylor will get in esp based on him being such a great pass rusher which gets him the recognition.
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I wonder what an 80s led Marino team with ZT, JT, Surtain, and Madison on the other side of the ball would've been able to accomplish...
 
Their prime was before my time but I doubt either JT or Zach make it
 
AFCMiamiEast said:
I wonder what an 80s led Marino team with ZT, JT, Surtain, and Madison on the other side of the ball would've been able to accomplish...
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or what an 80's team would have done without all the bad draft picks down the line.
That would be an awesome team though. surtain and Madison was as good as u could get at cb
 
The most overrated Dolphin in franchise history. Not a chance.

My fondest memory of Zach is him getting trucked on a 4th and 1 on a QB sneak by Daunte Culpepper in 2002. Miami could have clinched a playoff spot with a win in that game.

Point of the story? A hall of fame linebacker makes that play. Zach Thomas is NOT a hall of famer.
 
hell freaking yes he deserves to be in the hall of fame! you dont truly appreciate how special that guy was till hes gone, you take him for granted year after year cause you came to expect the excellence ho brought to the table. wasnt his fault the qb play destroyed any chance that team in the early 2000's had at making a legit title run.

---------- Post added at 01:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:16 PM ----------

mr.frosty if you think zt was overrated then you truly are either blind or just brain dead.
 
Mr.Frosty said:
The most overrated Dolphin in franchise history. Not a chance.

My fondest memory of Zach is him getting trucked on a 4th and 1 on a QB sneak by Daunte Culpepper in 2002. Miami could have clinched a playoff spot with a win in that game.

Point of the story? A hall of fame linebacker makes that play. Zach Thomas is NOT a hall of famer.
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I don't think he's the most overrated Dolphin in team history (Sam Madison was that for me), and Zach is my second favorite Fin of all-time after Dan the Man... But I agree with you that he isn't a HOF'er, and the example you stated is a perfect example of why.
 
Mr.Frosty said:
The most overrated Dolphin in franchise history. Not a chance.

My fondest memory of Zach is him getting trucked on a 4th and 1 on a QB sneak by Daunte Culpepper in 2002. Miami could have clinched a playoff spot with a win in that game.

Point of the story? A hall of fame linebacker makes that play. Zach Thomas is NOT a hall of famer.
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Like Ray Lewis never got trucked by anybody.
 
dlockz said:
Like Ray Lewis never got trucked by anybody.
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The difference between Ray Lewis and Zach Thomas is that Ray Lewis made game-changing plays, dominated games, and could will his team to win. Zach didn't do any of those things.
 
I'm a huge Zach Thomas fan. However, to be honest I don't think his achievements were quite good enough to make the Hall of Fame.
He richly deserves his place in the Dolphin Ring of Honor but not quite Canton material. If anything, I would rate his brother in law, Jason Taylor as a better HOF candidate.
 
I dunno about the HOF compared to other legendary LBs. However, in the smaller universe of the Fins, there's no question he's one of our GOATs and deserves franchise recognition as such. He was a Fin through and through, the capper being he refused to interview with Belicheat. Zach should be on staff working with Misi teaching him how to call defensive signals cuz in that regard, few have done it better.

I've always considered ZT the Pete Rose of football: "The Little Engine That Could" where will, desire and application overcame natural shortcomings. In that regard, from what I'm reading so far, I see those same qualities in Jarvis Landry and am confident that not being as fleet a'foot as some others (although I broke it down last night how a 40 is not indicative of a seam receiver and even if it were, the highest touted ones drafted were no more than 15/100ths straight lining down 40 yards) is trumped by all the wonderful tangible and intangibles he brings to the party. I'm hopeful our own draft guru Slimm Jr is right when he predicted that Landry will turn out to be one of the Fins all time greats.
 
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