Person familiar with deal tells AP: Zach Thomas signing deal with Dolphins and will retire

AP source: Zach Thomas retiring as a Dolphin

DAVIE, Fla. — When Zach Thomas was released by the Miami Dolphins two years ago, he regretted not getting a chance to formally say farewell.

The Dolphins are giving him that opportunity.

Thomas has agreed to sign a ceremonial contract with the Dolphins on Thursday, so he can retire with the team he starred with for 12 seasons with, a person familiar with the deal told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the arrangement was not to be formally announced until a 4 p.m. news conference at the team’s training facility.

Only a fifth-round draft pick out of Texas Tech in 1996, Thomas became a star for the Dolphins, one of the faces of the franchise along with the likes of Dan Marino and Jason Taylor, who became Thomas’ brother-in-law. With Miami, Thomas had 1,038 tackles, 19½ sacks and 17 interceptions in 168 games, and he was chosen for seven Pro Bowls — second-most in Dolphins history behind Marino’s nine.

“I will always consider myself a Miami Dolphin,” Thomas said when he was released in February 2008.

He spent the 2008 season with the Dallas Cowboys, then was in camp last year with Kansas City, which released Thomas before the season after unspecified injury issues.

Thomas’ stay with the Dolphins also ended after an injury. One of the NFL’s most durable players for more than a decade, Thomas appeared in just five Miami games in 2007 after his car was rear-ended, creating a whiplash injury that caused him to suffer migraines for weeks.

He also dealt with numerous concussions in his career, pledging earlier this year that, upon his death, he’ll donate his brain to the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy at Boston University School of Medicine. Thomas has often said he doesn’t know how many concussions he had in his career.