Zach Thomas Snubbed by the Hall of Fame Again

Once again, the Pro Football Hall of Fame got it wrong. For the 9th consecutive year, Miami Dolphin great Zach Thomas was rejected by the HOF voters. While I normally don’t like to whine about Hall of Fame snubs, this one is particularly glaring. Consider Thomas’s credentials. He was a 7-time Pro Bowl selection and a 5-time First Team All Pro selection. His numbers are almost identical and in some cases better than Brian Urlacher, who was selected to the Hall of Fame on his first year of eligibility. His numbers are far superior to the late Sam Mills, who was one of the players chosen for the Class of 2022. Photo from the Sun Sentinel.

To appreciate how good Thomas was, check out the website Pro Football Reference. The website has a metric called AV, which measures the value of every NFL player since 1950. It is similar to WAR (Wins Above Replacement), used to measure baseball players. Thomas had a career AV of 148. By contrast, Sam Mills had an AV of 127. This isn’t meant to disparage Mills, who was an outstanding player. He just wasn’t as good as Thomas. In addition to Mills, several other players voted into this year’s Hall of Fame Class also had inferior AV values compared to Thomas, including Tony Boselli. LeRoy Butler and Bryant Young. Again, all of them were fine players. But none of them had a higher AV than Thomas.

The snubbing of Thomas leads me to wonder if there is an anti-Miami bias. Thomas isn’t the only Dolphin who has been criminally left out of Canton. Bob Kuechenberg was one of this finest offensive linemen of his era. He never got selected. Safeties Jake Scott and Dick Anderson were the finest tandem of their era. Both were every bit as good if not better than Cliff Harris and Donnie Shell who are in the HOF. Richmond Webb played twice as long as Tony Boselli, and played at just as high a level. Webb had to go up against Bruce Smith twice and sometimes three times a year. Yet can’t even sniff the list of finalists. How is it possible Nick Buoniconti is the only member of the No Name Defense of the early 1970s currently enshrined in Canton?

The anti-Miami bias isn’t just limited to the Dolphins. Former University of Miami greats Devin Hester, Reggie Wayne and Andre Johnson were also finalists who were also snubbed. Not one of the four Hall of Fame finalist with South Florida connections made the cut. Coincidence? While I’m confident all of these players will eventually get their due, they should not have to wait this long–especially behind players with lesser credentials. Folks, the Miami hate is strong.

Dolphins and Hurricanes not in the Hall of Fame:

Zach Thomas
Bob Kuechenberg
Richmond Webb
Bill Stanfill
Jake Scott
Dick Anderson
Mark Clayton
Ottis Anderson
Chuck Foreman
Dennis Harrah
Devin Hester
Reggie Wayne
Andre Johnson