CLEVELAND -- After an 11-year playing career and a franchise record 10 consecutive Pro Bowl appearances, former Cleveland Browns left tackle Joe Thomas announced his retirement from the National Football League last Wednesday.
But when Browns coach Hue Jackson walked into a press conference to discuss the team’s newest additions through trades and free agency late last week, he did so singing a “Ballad for Joe Thomas.”
“I have been singing it for days. For days,” Jackson said.
Thomas’ last game and final year with the Browns came to a premature end, as he suffered a season-ending arm injury in a 12-9 setback against the Tennessee Titans at FirstEnergy Stadium on October 22, 2017.
Thomas suffered a left triceps injury in the third quarter and did not return. After the game, the Browns confirmed Thomas needed further testing before determining what the rest of the season held for their 10-time Pro Bowl blocker.
Those tests revealed a tear of the triceps tendon and surgery was required to repair the damage.
“I’m not going to say ‘did I know,’” Jackson said. “Joe was always in constant communication with us. Obviously, he waited until the last second to make a decision. We were still holding out hope that Joe would not go and that he would stay. I still hold out hope.”
Jackson is holding out so much hope that he will keep open Thomas’ spots in the locker room and on the team plane just in case his stalwart offensive lineman has a change of heart.
“My disappointment is we never got him to winning,” Jackson said. “This guy is going to be and was a Hall-of-Fame player who hasn’t won a lot of football games. That is unfair because I don’t people truly understand how good Joe Thomas is as a football player, as a person, as a person within the community and the whole nine yards.
“I am going to miss Joe, but as I told him, I am going to always reiterate to him, this is still his football team. He still has a [key] fob that gets in the door. His locker will stay the same. It will be in the same place. His place on the plane will be the same if he wants to go. That is how much I think of Joe Thomas. He will be missed.”
In December of 2016, Thomas was selected to his 10th consecutive Pro Bowl, and went 10 for 10 in all-star game nods over his first decade as a professional since entering the league via the No. 3 overall pick in the 2007 NFL Draft out of the University of Wisconsin.
With that selection, Thomas became the first Browns player ever chosen to participate in 10 Pro Bowls.
Prior to the career-shortening injury, Thomas played 10,363 consecutive snaps, which is believed to be the longest such streak in NFL history.
“I don’t think you fill that spot” Jackson said. “Somebody has to go play left tackle, there is no question, but do you really replace a Hall-of-Fame player in the organization?
“We hope to go draft another Joe Thomas someday, but Joe Thomas is not in this building and he is not coming back this year. We are going to play somebody at left tackle, and we are going to give some guys opportunities to do it, but I hope nobody in here thinks the next Joe Thomas is fixing to go play over there this season.”
