National Football League

Bugel, Thomas win PFWA's assistant coach award

Published Jun. 19, 2018 6:01 p.m. ET

Joe Bugel and Emmitt Thomas are winners of the 2018 Paul ''Dr. Z'' Zimmerman Award given by the Professional Football Writers of America for work as an NFL assistant coach.

Bugel spent 27 of his 32 NFL seasons as an assistant coach and is best known for building Washington's famous Hogs offensive line unit as the Redskins won three Super Bowls under head coach Joe Gibbs.

Kansas City defensive backs coach Thomas, a Pro Football Hall of Famer as a player, is in his 38th season as an NFL assistant coach. He has been lauded for his ability to develop players in the secondary.

Bugel and Thomas are the 11th and 12th recipients of the Dr. Z Award, which was instituted by the PFWA in 2014.

Other 2018 nominees for the Dr. Z Award were Bobb McKittrick, Jim McNally and Dave Toub.

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