Nick Saban walked into Miami in 2005 and apparently wasted no time making enemies. Zach Thomas was already one of the Dolphins’ most respected veterans, but according to Thomas, Saban was trying to get rid of him almost immediately. Before there was trust, before there was any real relationship, there was already talk of a trade. That set the tone for what became a tense two-year run in Miami.
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“You know, Nick was trying to get rid of me from the get-go,” Zach Thomas said on Bussin’ With The Boys. “He tried to trade me to Green Bay for Javon Walker or something, so I didn’t like Nick at first.”
Zach Thomas was already a star when Saban walked through the door, having already spent nearly a decade in Miami. And as he revisited their relationship, he shared stories from a Dolphins tenure that produced plenty of tension behind the scenes. The Hall of Famer recalled how the coach’s hard-driving approach rubbed some established NFL players the wrong way.
“He tried to be hard coming in too early,” he added. “You got to earn the respect of the guys, especially grown-a** men, and so he would curse guys out. He’d curse coaches out, things like that. Not to knock Nick. He’s a great coach. All of our coaches cursed everybody out.”
Nick Saban had built his reputation on discipline and preparation, but Zach Thomas believed NFL veterans were not going to automatically respond to the same approach simply because a coach had arrived with a massive reputation. And yet, he is not rewriting Saban as some incompetent coach.
Zach Thomas praised the staff Nick Saban assembled in Miami, pointing specifically to Will Muschamp, Kirby Smart, and Dan Quinn. He also acknowledged how prepared the coach was and suggested the Dolphins had one glaring problem that coaching alone could not solve.
“I felt like all we were missing was a quarterback at the time,” he said.
There was another decision Thomas could not ignore. And that’s Miami’s failure to land Drew Brees. Nick Saban later left the Dolphins for Alabama, where his career exploded into one of the greatest runs in college football history. But Miami never got that version of him.
The trade story makes Thomas’ experience even stranger because the proposed deal would have sent him to Green Bay for WR Javon Walker. The move never happened, and Miami ultimately kept its longtime LB. That worked out rather well for the Dolphins.
Zach Thomas made the Pro Bowl in 2005 and followed it with another Pro Bowl selection in 2006, earning first-team All-Pro honors that season. His individual production continued even as Miami struggled around him. The relationship with Saban, however, remained strained. Jay Glazer later said Thomas nearly went after Saban after the coach questioned his toughness. Glazer also claimed Daunte Culpepper tried to fight Saban during their time together in Miami.
Thomas also remembers another detail. Nick Saban eventually became noticeably friendlier late in the season.
“I knew exactly when he was leaving because he got real nice at the end of the year,” he said. “And I’m like, damn, this guy’s gone. Something’s up.”
He was right. Nick Saban left Miami after the 2006 season, finishing his NFL head-coaching stint 15-17 without a playoff appearance. He returned to college football shortly afterward and took over at Alabama, where everything changed. Thomas, meanwhile, eventually left Miami after the 2007 season. He later revealed that Bill Belichick was interested in bringing him to New England, but he could not bring himself to join the Dolphins’ AFC East rival.
Nick Saban could not make the Dolphins work while Thomas remained deeply tied to the franchise and its fans. The irony is that Saban eventually became a college coaching icon while Thomas became a Hall of Famer. Their Miami chapter sits somewhere between successful individual moments, missed opportunities, and a relationship that never quite found its footing.