Justin Tucker, Earl Thomas named to NFL’s 2010s All-Decade Team

By Steve Lansdale

AUSTIN, Texas — Two of the best Texas football players in recent memory have been honored as being among the NFL’s best of the last decade.

Former Texas kicker Justin Tucker, now of the Baltimore Ravens, and safety Early Thomas, who also plays for Baltimore but spent the first nine seasons of his NFL career as a member of the Seattle Seahawks, were named this week to [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]the NFL’s “2010s All-Decade Team.”

Tucker was one of just eight players, and the only specialist, who was selected unanimously. Thomas was one of three safeties named to the team.

Thomas started all 27 games during his three-year UT career before declaring himself eligible for the NFL Draft after his redshirt sophomore season in 2009. In his last season at Texas,Thomas was a first-team All-America and was a finalist for the Jim Thorpe Award, which is given annually to the nation’s top defensive back.

During his career at UT, Thomas had 149 tackles (101 solo), eight tackles for loss, 10 interceptions, 33 pass breakups five forced fumbles and a blocked punt.

At Texas, Thomas was a three-year safety who started all 27 games of his career before declaring for the NFL Draft after his redshirt sophomore season. In 2009, his last season in Austin, Thomas was a finalist for the Jim Thorpe Award, which honors the nation’s top defensive back, and a consensus first-team All-America selection. He posted 149 tackles (101 solo), eight tackles for loss, 10 interceptions (including a program-record eight in 2009), 33 pass breakups, five forced fumbles and blocked a punt during his UT career.

The Seahawks made Thomas the 14^th selection in the first round of the 2010 NFL Draft. During his NFL career, he has 713 tackles (497 solo) in 140 career games, including a career-high 105 stops in 2013, and twice has had five interceptions in a season. He has been selected to play in the Pro Bowl seven times, the most ever by a former Texas player.

While has been one of the league’s top safeties over the last decade, some have argued that Tucker is the greatest kicker … in NFL history.

Tucker played in all 52 games during his four seasons at UT, connecting on 40 of 48 field goal attempts — his .833 field goal percentage is tied for the second-best in program history — and never missing an extra point in 71 career attempts. He earned second-team All-Big 12 honors in 2011.

Tucker signed with the Ravens in 2012 as an undrafted free agent. His career field goal percentage of 90.8 ranks first in league history, and he is the only kicker in NFL history to convert more than 90 percent of at least 100 attempts.

At the end of his rookie season, Tucker nailed a pair of field goals in the fourth quarter to help the Ravens defeat the San Francisco 49ers, 34-31, in Super Bowl XLVII. A year later, Tucker made 38 of 41 field goal attempts, his career high for converted field goals in a season. He hit 38 again in 2016 against just a single miss. His 38 field goals in a season are tied for the sixth-highest single-season total by an NFL kicker, and Tucker is the only player in league history to reach that total in more than one season.

Tucker has been selected to represent the Ravens in the Pro Bowl three times.

Texas is one of nine schools with multiple players named to the All-Decade Team. Cal and the University of Pittsburgh led all schools with four representatives on the team, while Miami had three. Central Michigan, LSU, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Texas A&M and Texas each were represented twice.
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