The Pro Football Hall of Fame is set to get a little bit bigger this weekend. Tomorrow, a slew of the NFL’s great players will all await to learn their fate as only a select few are given the honor of joining football immortality in Canton, Ohio. Among the players expected to make the jump are first-ballot candidates like Peyton Manning and Charles Woodson. There is no greater honor than to not only be named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame but to be deemed so great that you get in on your first try.
Miami Dolphins defensive end Jason Taylor is among those to receive such an honor. And today marks the 4-year anniversary of Taylor learning his fate as a first-ballot Hall of Fame inductee — and to mark the occasion, Taylor’s sister, Joy, shared the video of her brother being informed of his induction.
It’s an emotional moment, for sure; one well worth reliving in the buildup to tomorrow’s newest round of inductions.
4 years ago today, my brother became a member of the @ProFootballHOF! Love you @JasonTaylor! pic.twitter.com/c2puG2nEhV
— Joy Taylor (@JoyTaylorTalks) February 5, 2021
Perhaps we’ll see another staple member of those early 2000s Miami Dolphins teams make the leap this weekend with linebacker Zach Thomas. Thomas won’t have the same honor of being a first-ballot inductee, but he was just as much a part of the Dolphins’ identity defensively throughout those seasons as Taylor. The duo played a respective 12 and 13 seasons with the Dolphins and shared the field together from 1997 to 2007 — combining for 13 Pro Bowl selections and 8 first team All-Pro selections as a Dolphins duo over that stretch.
Saturday may just be Zach Thomas’ day. But thanks to the events of four years ago, February 4th will always be Jason Taylor’s day.