Cleveland Browns: Top 5 rookie seasons since 1999

Joe Thomas is simply the man. The No. 3 overall pick out of Wisconsin in 2007, Thomas wasn’t in New York for the draft. Instead, he spent the day fishing with his dad. His father spoke on the decision not to go and said it was hard to tell the league they wouldn’t be there, but that they weren’t sure how many more father-son weekends they were going to have left with all the changes in Joe’s life.

"“We had just recently been to New York and had a great time,” Eric Thomas said according to Colin Fly of The Pantagraph. “But the opportunity to go fishing isn’t going to come around again (often) with Joe’s life changing dramatically. He’s got a wedding planned this summer. He’s got a full-time job now.”"

That was just one of the many things about Thomas that endeared him to the Cleveland fan base. He was one of those players who just did their job and didn’t care about all the accolades that came along with it. As for his rookie season, that would be the only year Thomas got to tase a winning season.

Cleveland was 10-6 and saw massive improvements in every facet of their offense. The Browns were happy to have him lock down the left side of their line for 10,363 straight-snaps. Their iron-man tackle left the game before the 2018 season but still stays involved with the franchise and is their biggest — and most vocal — fan.