Joe

Thomas

One of the greatest left tackles to ever play the game, Canton no-doubter Thomas is joined by Darrelle Revis, DeMarcus Ware, Zach Thomas, Ronde Barber, Chuck Howley, Ken Riley, Joe Klecko and coach Don Coryell. There remains far, far too many glaring omissions from the Pro Football Hall-of-Fame, but every member of the 2023 class is worthy of the honor.

Once again, Thomas was a lone bright spot on the Browns’ annually inept offense. He’s never missed a start in his five-year career and remains arguably the game’s best offensive lineman. Thomas signed a seven-year, $84 million extension with the Browns back in August.

NBC’s Cris Collinsworth made a similar statement a couple of weeks ago. Peters is the rare player to leave television analysts and stat-heads in lockstep. Pro Football Focus also grades Peters as the league’s premier tackle, second (Phil Loadholt) in run-blocking and fourth (Joe Thomas, David Stewart, Andrew Whitworth) in pass-blocking.

If the Browns are truly having a total firesale, every team in the league should be interested in Thomas. He’s 28 years old, a six-time Pro Bowler, three-time first-team All-Pro and has graded out as a ProFootballFocus top-10 tackle in five straight seasons. The price for Thomas should be way steeper than it was for Trent Richardson. The Browns are far more likely to trade Josh Gordon, Brandon Weeden or Greg Little.

Thomas hasn’t missed a game since the Browns drafted him third overall in 2007. In fact, he hasn’t even missed a single one of the 6,054 snaps. Thomas, a three-time first-team All-Pro, says he’s played through illness, knee sprains and torn muscles. “It’s a point of pride for me to be able to play 100 straight without missing a snap,” he said. "... Part of playing on the offensive line is just toughing it out.”

“Since I got here it’s been my goal to turn the Browns into a winner,” Thomas said, “and I think [coach Hue Jackson] is just the guy to do that.” Despite moving on from several veterans over the past couple months, the Browns have shown no desire to end their relationship with Thomas. The six-time All-Pro will turn 32 in December.

The Browns came close to dealing Thomas at this time last year, nearly striking a deal with the Broncos before it fell apart. This new Browns regime spent all offseason ridding the roster of veterans and could look to get what they can for Thomas with the team going nowhere this season at 0-7. Thomas turns 32 in December but remains a top-tier left tackle.

“We. Are. Not. Going. To. Trade. Joe. Thomas,” were how Jackson’s words were stylized by the team’s Twitter account. It’s unequivocal, but we’d guess everything remains negotiable for the tanking Browns. Jackson undoubtedly values Thomas’ leadership on a young team, but not even an All-Pro left tackle has been able to prevent every Browns quarterback from getting hurt. Trading Thomas makes sense if the opportunity presents itself.

This is actually an amazing feat, as Thomas is the fifth player ever to be named to 10 consecutive All-Star games, joining Hall of Famers Merlin Olsen, Mel Renfro, Barry Sanders, and Lawrence Taylor. The No. 3 overall pick in 2007, Thomas has made the Pro Bowl every season he’s been in the league and is well on his way to the Hall of Fame. It’s a shame he’s been wasted in Cleveland.

Thomas has famously never missed an NFL snap and has no documented concussions in his history. “Short-term memory loss -- hard times remembering things that have happened recently,” said Thomas, 32. “Like, you walk to the grocery store and you’re like, ‘Huh, I can’t remember what I needed to get.’” Thomas said his hope is medicine will “continue to improve” to a point where he can be treated should he develop any sort of dementia related to football.