Former Munhall star Bugel gets NFL assistant-coaching honor

Joe Bugel and Emmitt Thomas are lifetime achievement winners of the 2018 Paul “Dr. Z” Zimmerman Award given by the Professional Football Writers of America for work as an NFL assistant coach.

Bugel, a Pittsburgh native who played high school football at Munhall, spent 27 of his 32 NFL seasons as an assistant coach and is best known for building Washington’s famous Hogs offensive line unit as the Redskins won three Super Bowls under coach Joe Gibbs.

Kansas City defensive backs coach Thomas, a Pro Football Hall of Famer as a player, is in his 38th season as an NFL assistant coach.

Bugel, who retired after the 2009 season, and Thomas are the 11th and 12th recipients of the Dr. Z Award, which was instituted by the PFWA in 2014.

Bugel was offensive coordinator (1981-82) and assistant head coach/offense (1983-89) in Washington. He was the Cardinals head coach from 1990-93, the Raiders assistant head coach/offense from 1995-96 and the Raiders head coach in 1997.

He coached the Chargers offensive line from 1998-2001 before returning to Washington from 2004-09 as an assistant,

Browns

Cleveland signed offensive tackle Greg Robinson, a 2014 first-round draft pick with then St. Louis Rams.

The 6-foot-5, 330-pound Robinson was the No. 2 overall pick that year out of Auburn, but never lived up to expectations with the Rams in St. Louis and Los Angeles and was traded to the Detroit Lions before last season in a trade which brought only a sixth-round pick for the Rams.