Report: Joe Thomas ready to be part of Cleveland Browns turnaround
By Thomas Moore
Cleveland Browns left tackle Joe Thomas has reportedly changed his mind and is now excited about the future of the team.
Good news for Cleveland Browns as left tackle Joe Thomas is reportedly on board with the team’s latest plan to turn the franchise around.
Thomas spoke with a reporter from Cleveland TV station WKYC on Saturday during an appearance at a local home and garden show and came out in support of head coach Hue Jackson and the new direction of the team.
Joe Thomas told me he definitely wants to be part of the turnaround with the #Browns @wkyc @WKYCSports @NARIHomeShow
— Dave Chudowsky (@DaveChudowsky) January 23, 2016
Joe Thomas said getting Hue Jackson is awesome for the Browns, getting #1 coach considering turnover and turmoil here @wkyc @NARIHomeShow
— Dave Chudowsky (@DaveChudowsky) January 23, 2016
Those remarks signal a sea change from Thomas, who was down on the team’s prospects at the end of the regular season, which marked the eighth consecutive season that Thomas has played for a Browns team with a losing record.
Related: Joe Thomas earns pair of best lineman awards
“It doesn’t make you happy when you have to go through another coaching change,” Thomas said after another season-ending loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. “It is tough on everybody. Coaching changes and organizational changes always set you back. It is a tough process to go through. Nobody is happy about it, and it is never easy.
“You always think ‘Oh well, we’ll get it done tomorrow,’ but as you get older, the tomorrows become fewer and far between and you become more reflective on your football mortality. Who knows who is going to be back next year?
“It’s tougher every time it happens because you realize you are closer to your end. Every time there is a reset, it puts you further away from that goal of making the playoffs, and once you’re in, making that push for a Super Bowl, which is every player’s dream.”
Related: Joe Thomas earns 8th All-Pro nod
Sashi Brown, the team’s executive vice president of football operations, has also been working to sell Thomas that the Browns are finally on the right track
“Joe is like us, very competitive,” Brown said this past week. “His questions to us were largely focused on how are we going to win. I talked to him about what our plan was, what our strategy was and assured him that we are going to be doing everything to pursue winning here as an organization.
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“You would have to ask Joe how satisfied he was with the questions, but he is a guy that is going to be a big piece of what we do moving forward. He has a tremendous amount of insight that we will gleam from.”
Convincing Thomas that Cleveland is the place to be would be a big step in helping the Browns. The offensive line remains the team’s strength – the group finished fifth in the NFL in Pro Football Focus’ rankings – and if Thomas buys in that could go a long way toward convincing center Alex Mack and right tackle Mitchell Schwartz that leaving in free agency would be a mistake.
Keeping the line intact would also go a long way in easing the transition if the Browns decide to use their first-round draft pick on a quarterback.
It can be difficult to find positive things to say about a team that has posted double-digit losses 11 times in the past 13 seasons and hasn’t won a playoff game since 1994, but keeping Thomas around certainly qualifies as a good thing.