Dolphins’ Thomas getting another crack at it
Former LB one of 25 semifinalists for 2nd year in a row
Thomas is a Hall of Fame semifinalist for the second consecutive year.
The former Miami Dolphins linebacker, who was a member of the NFL’s alldecade team for the 2000s, was named as one of the 25 players from a list trimmed down from 122 nominees.
The list of Modern Era semifinalists will be trimmed to 15 finalists, who will be announced Jan. 2, 2020. The finalists will then be presented to the full 48-member Pro Football Hall of Fame Selection Committee during its annual meeting Feb. 1, 2020, the day before Super Bowl LIV at Hard Rock Stadium.
The Selection Committee will elect five Modern Era players for the Class of 2020.
Thomas was a semifinalist last year but didn’t make the cut to become a finalist.
In his 12 seasons with the Dolphins, Thomas earned seven Pro Bowl invitations and was named All-Pro five times. He averaged 136 tackles per season and had six seasons with more than 150.
He also pulled down 17 career interceptions, including four he returned for touchdowns, and produced 20 1⁄2 sacks during his playing career with Miami.
His teammate Jason Taylor was a first-ballot Hall of Fame inductee in the 2017 class.
The other semifinalists include three first-year-eligible players in safety Troy Polamalu (Pittsburgh Steelers ), linebacker Patrick Willis (San Francisco), a seven-time Pro Bowler, and receiver Reggie Wayne (Indianapolis Colts), a former University of Miami standout.
The other semifinalists are safeties Steve Atwater, Darren Woodson, LeRoy Butler and John Lynch, defensive back Ronde Barber, receivers Isaac Bruce, Torry Holt, Hines Ward and Steve Tasker, offensive linemen Tony Boselli, Alan Faneca and Steve Hutchinson, tailbacks Edgerrin James, Fred Taylor and Ricky Watters, linebackers Clay Matthews, Carl Banks and Sam Mills, and defensive linemen Simeon Rice, Richard Seymour and Bryant Young.
The five Modern Era players selected for the Class of 2020 will be joined by 10 seniors (players who have been retired for more than 25 seasons), three contributors and two coaches to comprise a special CenZach tennial Class of 20 Hall of
Fame members.
The 15 senior, contributor and coach inductees will be selected by a 25-person Centennial Blue-Ribbon Panel, which will be comprised of Hall of Fame selectors, Pro Football Hall of Famers, media members, football historians and industry experts.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 2020 will be introduced during NFL Honors, a two-hour primetime awards special to air nationally on the eve of Super Bowl LIV at 9 p.m. on FOX.
“NFL Honors” will be taped earlier that evening at the Adrienne Arsht Center in Miami, when the Hall of Fame’s Centennial Class of 2020 will be brought together for the first time.
In addition, the NFL and The Associated Press will announce their annual accolades at the awards show, with the winners on hand to accept their awards.
The Centennial Class of 2020 will be formally enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame during the annual Enshrinement Week from Aug. 6-9, 2020, and the Centennial Celebration in Canton on Sept. 16-19, 2020.