Login
Login

:William Thomas (linebacker)

{{Short description|American football player (born 1968)}}

{{for|the American college football coach who previously played for the Tennessee State Tigers|William A. Thomas}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}

{{Use American English|date=May 2023}}

{{Infobox NFL biography

| name = William Thomas

| number = 51, 59

| position = Linebacker

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1968|8|13}}

| birth_place = Amarillo, Texas, U.S.

| height_ft = 6

| height_in = 2

| weight_lb = 223

| high_school = Palo Duro (Amarillo)

| college = Texas A&M

| draftyear = 1991

| draftround = 4

| draftpick = 104

| pastteams =

| highlights =

| statlabel1 = Total tackles

| statvalue1 = 886

| statlabel2 = Sacks

| statvalue2 = 37.0

| statlabel3 = Forced fumbles

| statvalue3 = 10

| statlabel4 = Fumble recoveries

| statvalue4 = 12

| statlabel5 = Interceptions

| statvalue5 = 27

| statlabel6 = Defensive touchdowns

| statvalue6 = 4

| pfr = ThomWi00

}}

William Harrison Thomas (born August 13, 1968) is an American former professional football player who was a linebacker in the National Football League (NFL) for the Philadelphia Eagles (1991–1999) and Oakland Raiders (2000–2001) franchises.

Thomas attended Palo Duro High School and later played college football at Texas A&M University for the Aggies. After college, Philadelphia selected Thomas in the fourth round, 104th overall in the 1991 NFL draft.{{Cite web |title=1991 NFL Draft Listing |url=https://www.pro-football-reference.com/years/1991/draft.htm |access-date=2023-05-07 |website=Pro-Football-Reference.com |language=en}} He played for the Eagles in nine NFL seasons. His most notable seasons were in 1995 and 1996 which he was selected as a member of the NFC's Pro Bowl team. After his Eagles contract expired, Thomas signed with the Oakland Raiders which were coached by former Eagles assistant, Jon Gruden.

Thomas ended his career with 37 sacks and 27 interceptions and is a member of the 20/20 Club. He was also known as an exceptional pass-coverage linebacker during his career.

Thomas was a member of the coaching staff at La Salle University as a volunteer assistant during the 2007 season.

Thomas formerly resided in the southern New Jersey area with his wife and three sons. As of 2021, he is now divorced and resides in Pennsylvania.{{citation needed|date=July 2024}}

NFL career statistics

class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"

! colspan="2"| Legend

style="background:#cfecec; width:3em;"|

| Led the league

Bold

| Career high

=Regular season=

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
rowspan="2"| Year

!rowspan="2"| Team

!colspan="2"| Games

!colspan="4"| Tackles

!colspan="4"| Interceptions

!colspan="4"| Fumbles

GPGSCombSoloAstSckIntYdsTDLngFFFRYdsTD
1991PHI

| 16 || 7 || 40 || 40 || 0 || 2.0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 1 || 0 || 0

1992PHI

| 16 || 15 || 94 || 94 || 0 || 1.5 || 2 || 4 || 0 || 4 || 0 || 2 || 2 || 0

1993PHI

| 16 || 16 || 107 || 107 || 0 || 6.5 || 2 || 39 || 0 || 21 || 4 || 3 || 0 || 0

1994PHI

| 16 || 16 || 87 || 60 || 27 || 6.0 || 1 || 7 || 0 || 7 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0

1995PHI

| 16 || 16 || 74 || 62 || 12 || 2.0 || 7 || 104 || 1 || 37 || 1 || 1 || 0 || 0

1996PHI

| 16 || 16 || 71 || 54 || 17 || 5.5 || 3 || 47 || 0 || 37 || 0 || 1 || 23 || style="background:#cfecec; width:3em;"| 1

1997PHI

| 14 || 14 || 80 || 59 || 21 || 5.0 || 2 || 11 || 0 || 11 || 0 || 1 || 37 || 1

1998PHI

| 16 || 16 || 86 || 62 || 24 || 2.0 || 1 || 21 || 0 || 21 || 1 || 0 || 0 || 0

1999PHI

| 14 || 13 || 81 || 59 || 22 || 2.5 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 2 || 1 || 9 || 0

2000OAK

| 16 || 16 || 78 || 69 || 9 || 1.0 || 6 || 68 || 1 || 46 || 2 || 0 || 0 || 0

2001OAK

| 16 || 15 || 88 || 64 || 24 || 3.0 || 3 || 46 || 0 || 33 || 0 || 2 || 11 || 0

colspan="2"|17216088673015637.0273472461012822

=Playoffs=

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
rowspan="2"| Year

!rowspan="2"| Team

!colspan="2"| Games

!colspan="4"| Tackles

!colspan="4"| Interceptions

!colspan="4"| Fumbles

GPGSCombSoloAstSckIntYdsTDLngFFFRYdsTD
1992PHI

| 2 || 2 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0.0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 1 || 24 || 0

1995PHI

| 2 || 2 || 7 || 6 || 1 || 0.0 || 1 || 30 || style="background:#cfecec; width:3em;"| 1 || 30 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0

1996PHI

| 1 || 1 || 3 || 3 || 0 || 1.0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0

2000OAK

| 2 || 2 || 9 || 6 || 3 || 1.0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0

2001OAK

| 2 || 2 || 19 || 14 || 5 || 0.0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0

colspan="2"|99382992.013013001240

References

{{reflist}}

Sources

  • {{cite news| first=Ira| last=Kaufman| url=http://bucs.tbo.com/bucs/MGBLVY747HE.html| title=All A Matter Of Tuck| publisher=The Tampa Tribune| date=December 14, 2005}}
  • {{cite news

| author=Lance Lahnert

| url=http://www.amarillo.com/stories/112300/spo_thomas.shtml

| title=Thomas has made a 'commitment to excellence'

| publisher=Amarillo Globe-News

| date=November 23, 2000

}}

  • {{cite web

| url=http://www.nfl.com/draft/history/teams/PHI

| title=Draft History (Philadelphia Eagles)

| work=NFL.com

| access-date=December 21, 2005

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20051123010159/http://www.nfl.com/draft/history/teams/PHI |archive-date = November 23, 2005}}

External links

  • {{Footballstats |pfr=ThomWi00}}
  • {{NFL.com player|william-thomas}} ([https://web.archive.org/web/20111023213816/http://www.nfl.com/player/williamthomas/2503327/profile archive])

{{Eagles1991DraftPicks}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, William}}

Category:1968 births

Category:American football linebackers

Category:Living people

Category:National Conference Pro Bowl players

Category:Oakland Raiders players

Category:Players of American football from Amarillo, Texas

Category:Palo Duro High School alumni

Category:Philadelphia Eagles players

Category:Texas A&M Aggies football players

Category:20th-century American sportsmen

{{linebacker-1960s-stub}}