It is too soon for Joe Thomas to become a broadcaster

Cleveland Browns left tackle Joe Thomas could have a promising broadcasting career after he retires. Let’s just hope he doesn’t start it this fall.

Football was invented for guys like Joe Thomas.

A 6-foot-6 and 312-pound Cleveland Browns offensive lineman who never missed a game, a play series, or even a snap from his first start in the NFL in 2007 up until Oct. 22, 2017.  He’s football’s Cal Ripken Jr. if ol’ Cal had been popping and blocking enemy players instead of just throwing them out.

To put a number on Thomas’ streak, he played 10,363 consecutive snaps.

If you’re not big on stats, it’s an incredible feat.  No other player in the history of the game has even come close to matching it. For 10-and-a-half years, every single time a Browns quarterback said “hut,” Thomas was playing in the game. Hitting, getting hit, staying healthy the whole time.  In a sport filled with injury time outs and career-ending tackles, this iron man was bulletproof for 166 games in a row.

Then last season against the Tennessee Titans, during consecutive game No. 167, all that ended.

It happened on the type of play Thomas says he’s made a million times before, where he gives the guy he’s blocking an extra little push to keep him out of the play.  Something just snapped in his triceps and the invincible Goliath finally went down.

Afterward, Thomas was philosophical about the end of his streak, according to clevelandbrowns.com:

"“It’s a violent game and those types of streaks are going to come to an end. It was not an infinity streak.”"

Excellent analysis – honest, insightful, humble yet kind of funny. Like Joe Thomas. Those same qualities should no doubt make Thomas a fine broadcaster, but what is difficult to figure out is how the topic of Thomas retiring came about so quickly.

One minute we’re grieving his absence and stalling until he gets healed up, then suddenly clevelandbrowns.com is posting about Thomas and former New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz spending a couple of days this week at ESPN’s Bristol, Conn, campus as guest NFL analysts.

Too soon, Joe, too soon.

No offense intended to his color commentator career. Anyone who’s a fan knows Thomas will  approach that gig with the same energy and natural talent that he did with football and grunt and sweat his way to the top of that ladder, too.  But the Browns are smack dab in the middle of a rebuild that required the team to unload just about all of its veteran players, and the Browns need Thomas’ leadership and game knowledge out there to help acclimate these new guys.

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With all due respect to his replacement, Spencer Drango is no Joe Thomas, and drafting or acquiring a Pro-Bowl caliber offensive tackle wasn’t exactly in the rebuild plans just yet.

The Browns still need Thomas, but after watching the NFL game broadcasts this season, television needs him, too.

His on-air competition in that other big league would be tough – Tony Romo, Troy Aikman and Chris Collinsworth – but lets quickly break down why claiming one of those spots is completely possible for Thomas.

First off, to old school Browns fans, Collinsworth is the weakest link. He’s a competent commentator, but hearing him reminds Browns fans of all the times Collinsworth took the Cincinnati Bengals to the Super Bowl. Having Thomas put an end to that would not be so bad.

Romo and Aikman, however, are untouchable.

Quarterbacks are the golden boys of color commentators because they were their team’s field generals. They understand how an entire game plan is executed, so their insight is tough to beat.  Of course, Thomas would have them on presentation, since Romo has the energy of an excited puppy and, at times, Aikman can sound like that guy in science class who knows everything but is tired of explaining it to you.

Switching from TV to radio, let’s not even talk about replacing the other Browns Iron Man, Doug Dieken, who has been part of the radio team since 1985 and has only missed two games in that time span.

Like Thomas, Dieken played offensive tackle for the Browns and set team records with 194 straight starts and 203 consecutive games played. Dieken’s game analysis is like listening to a soldier’s take on an ongoing battle – brutally perceptive from someone who’s been there – and Thomas would do well to watch and learn from another non-quarteback’s approach to game calling.

But right now, the Browns need Thomas back in the lineup.

Next: Browns: 5 running backs to target in the draft

New offensive coordinator Todd Haley’s job will be considerably easier in 2018 if the left side of his front line is solid. Plus, how fun would it be to watch Thomas experience a few (at least) Browns wins and help prove something about his team he’s always known:

The Browns losing streak is not an infinity streak, either.