Yeah, yeah, yeah, timing may be everything, but come on! Linebacker William Thomas was the Southwest Conference Defensive Player of the Year and recorded 13 sacks during his senior season at Texas A&M, yet he was still available when the Eagles made their fourth-round pick in the 1991 NFL draft.

And on top of that, he was joining a unit that would be No. 1 in the league against the run, against the pass, would allow the fewest yards overall, record the most sacks, and would send five players to the Pro Bowl.

Timing, schming! Call it good luck!

"There was a bit of pressure waiting around all day just to see when your name will be called. Once it was finally called, I didn't really care where it was," said Thomas, recalling his draft day experience. "I was like, 'All right!' Then it was, 'Oh, that's where Reggie White and all those guys are. This is going to be nice because I'm used to playing in a good defense and I'm going to a good defense. It's going to be great playing with those guys.'

"I was never one to be star-struck, but I was very grateful that I got a chance to play with those guys because they really helped my career."

LB William Thomas

"They had Jessie Small on the right side and I guess it wasn't working out well, him being at that outside linebacker position," Thomas recalled. "I came in and they liked what they saw. I was just basically flying all over the place. They gave me playing time in every one of the games.
  
"He would start the game, but once I went in, I was there for the rest of the game. One time I went in and Jessie said, 'Hey, just go ahead and stay in.' So he kind of just gave the position over."
 
Did that surprise the Amarillo, TX, native? Yes. Was there any animosity between the rookie and the third-year veteran?

Not for a moment.
 
"As a player, I'm going to fight to the bitter end. As a player, you also know when the writing is on the wall," Thomas said. "There was no bad blood or anything. It wasn''t like I was being cocky towards the situation or had a big ego. I was just like, 'Okay, they put me in, I've just got to go in."
  
Opponents, undoubtedly, would have preferred that hadn't been the case.

Thomas quickly developed into a solid presence at right outside linebacker, ranking among the team leaders in tackles and sacks. And by leading the Eagles with a career-high seven interceptions in 1995, he demonstrated that he had a nose for the ball as well. Those efforts earned him the first of two consecutive trips to the Pro Bowl.

"At some point in time you just kind of come into your own. A lot of times they call it (the) prime (of your career)," says Thomas. "I was playing good up until that time and then something just started clicking that made plays that much easier to read.

"Seth (Joyner) and Byron (Evans) were the linebackers on the nickel defense early (in my career) and when I finally got a chance to be on nickel, that's where all the big plays are to be made as far as interceptions and this, that and the other."

One of the "others" that season ('95) occurred during head coach Ray Rhodes' first victory, a 31-19 win over the Cardinals in Arizona on Sept. 10, when Thomas returned a Dave Krieg interception 37 yards for the first touchdown of his career.

"We were in a zone defense and when I see a quarterback do a three-step drop, I immediately start buzzing toward the area to try to get into the passing window," Thomas said. "He thought it was just going to be open. It was to his blindside, back to his left. He just turned and threw it without really thinking about it. He did not see me at all and the next thing you know, I just snatched it right out of the air."

While Thomas was selected to the Pro Bowl following the '95 and '96 seasons, he was also selected by his teammates as the club's Defensive Most Valuable Player following the '95, '96 and '97 seasons.

Which honor meant more to him?

"As a player, you really want the respect of your team. You really want that more because they're the ones who are around you the most and they are the ones if you play well, get motivated. It's a team thing," Thomas said. "The Pro Bowl, that's like an individual award. You'd rather have the team award."

"We had a great time in that locker room. It was a family-type situation. There are a lot of stresses out there on the field, of course, but when we were in the locker room, the way we had the camaraderie and the way we talked and the way we joked around with each other made it bearable. It made it easier to cope with all the stresses that were going on."

Thomas, who makes his home in Mullica Hill, NJ, with his wife, Susan, and their sons: Zion, Noah and Jonah, experienced football from a different angle this past fall as a volunteer assistant coach at La Salle University.

"I coached for the first time to see if I liked the coaching field and I enjoyed it. I was helping the defensive ends," Thomas said. "Once you get their attention, you can really teach them a lot. I played for 11 years (nine with the Eagles and two with the Oakland Raiders) and I played undersized, so technique was a very important part of my game. So being able to teach kids good techniques is priceless."

And though La Salle University announced that it was discontinuing its football program, Thomas says he hopes to coach again in the future.

"I'm trying to pursue some other things (in coaching) because I enjoyed it," Thomas said.