Analyzing The Browns? To Us, It’s All On Watson

Every once in a while, we talk about the sports media in northeast Ohio being obsessed by the Cleveland Browns. We have three major league professional sports teams in the area, but we believe it is safe to say at least 85% of the coverage, both print and broadcast wise, is focused on the NFL team in town.

Over the past two weeks, the organized team activities (OTAs) have taken place, and from what we have heard and read, we believe the Browns have a solid chance to win the OTA Super Bowl, because they have looked great these past two weeks.

Really, they are a glorified practice without pads and in shorts, akin to playing touch football. Now, we understand the coaching staff has started to put the schemes in place, so the players will be ready with training camp open for real at the end of July.

So, we aren’t saying they aren’t important, but remember, this week’s activities are the only ones that are mandatory. Players don’t have to attend, and some of the team’s best players have not been there, but somehow Myles Garrett is the one who appears to have been singled out by many folks.

Those critics will claim Garrett should be there because he’s a leader on the team, but we think Nick Chubb and Joel Bitonio are both important voices in the locker room, and neither have appeared at the OTAs. What makes Garrett different?

We are sure Garrett has been in contact with Kevin Stefanski and new defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz and is up to speed on what the team is doing these past two weeks. Heck, he may be talking to both of them on an everyday basis.

If those two aren’t concerned, then the media and public shouldn’t be either, not that we would know if anyone in Berea is upset. They generally don’t tell anyone anything.

But we digress.

There is so much conversation about the Browns when really the evaluation of this football team is quite simple to us. It hinges on QB Deshaun Watson.

Quite simply, if Watson plays like he did in his last three seasons in Houston, the Browns will be playoff contenders at the very least.

In those three years, Watson completed 68.3%, 67.3%, and 70.2% of his throws and had at least 3800 passing yards in each, culminating in a league leading 4823 yards in 2020. Houston went 11-5 in the first of those years, and 10-6 in the second, before their defense allowed the sixth most points in the NFL in ’20, resulting in a 4-12 record.

If Watson plays like he did in his six game return a year ago, with a 58.2% completion rate, then the Browns will not be any good, and likely will be looking for a new coach for 2024.

And if the latter occurs, Cleveland is basically screwed because of the enormous price the franchise paid for Watson, which of course included three first-round draft picks.

It would also start once again the search for a franchise quarterback, something the Browns have been looking for since Bernie Kosar started getting banged up physically. That’s a road no one should be willing to revisit.

So, whether people like it or not, it’s all on Watson. Personally, we feel he was one of the top five QBs in the sport in Houston and we see no reason why he cannot return to that form.

However, it’s seeming weird that folks want to invent all kinds of other scenarios for the Browns’ success. They added a top-notch defensive coordinator with a history of success.

The roster is dotted with stars on both sides of the ball.

If Watson is the Watson of old, there is no reason for not having a playoff season.

RIP To The Greatest. #32

On Friday, the sports world and northeast Ohio lost a legend. Jim Brown, the greatest running back in the history of the NFL passed away.

We can only remember one season of Brown’s unbelievable career, his last season of 1965. That year, he led the NFL defending champs back to the title game, losing to Green Bay in a mud bowl 23-12. We watched that game in color, at a time when no one had colored televisions.

Brown was dominant in ’65, winning his eighth rushing title in his nine years in the league, gaining 1544 yards. He gained 677 more yards than his next closest competitor, the great Gale Sayers, who rushed for 867.

He was the NFL MVP that season.

Famously, he went to make the movie, The Dirty Dozen, in the off-season and when filming took long, and he missed the start of training camp, the Cleveland owner, who will not be named here, gave him an ultimatum. Brown simply retired. In his prime.

When Brown left pro football, he was the all-time leading rusher with his 12,312 yards. The great 49er runner, Joe Perry was second at 9,723. Now Brown is 11th, but there is still one rushing statistic the incomparable Brown still is the all-time leader.

Brown AVERAGED 104.3 yards rushing per game. No one in the history of the NFL has ever done that. The closest is Barry Sanders at 99.8. Nick Chubb, a player beloved by the current fan base in northeast Ohio and rightly so, because we recognize a great runner when we see one, comes in 9th all-time with 84.5 yards per game.

We believe Jim Brown is the greatest football player ever. And we say that because quarterback for us should be in a separate category. Tom Brady is the greatest QB ever, but does anyone really think he could play another position?

We believe Brown would have been a tremendous linebacker or safety, or tight end, or really, whatever the hell he wanted to be.

We would like to ask people who the greatest lacrosse player ever was, and folks would look quizzically when asked. The answer is most people consider that to be Jim Brown. Imagine being the greatest ever in two sports.

By now, everyone has seen the iconic picture of Brown with Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (then Lew Alcindor), Muhammad Ali, former Cleveland mayor Carl Stokes, Brown’s former teammate Bobby Mitchell and several other former teammates to support Ali’s refusal to enter the draft for the war in Vietnam.

That meeting took place on June 4, 1967 in Cleveland at 10501 Euclid Avenue, and was organized by Brown.

We have had many arguments over the years about Brown’s standing in pro football and where he ranks. As we said, we consider him to be the GOAT, the greatest. The only players who we believe come close are Jerry Rice and Lawrence Taylor.

Brown was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1971, meaning he lived 52 years after being inducted, and other inductees say when Brown walks into the room, everyone, and these are the greats of the sport, stand up.

That’s the respect Jim Brown had among his peers.

We know the Browns will spend this season remembering their greatest player. On social media, we thought about putting “32” at the 50-yard line all year and highlighting the 32-yard stripes in brown and orange.

We also thought instead of “BROWNS” in the end zone, how about “BROWN” and putting “Jim” above it. A tribute to the greatest Cleveland football player ever.

It is not often we are sad due to the death of a non-family member or close friend. But sadness is what we felt on Friday. We know Jim Brown had some issues in his personal life and we are not minimizing those problems. But the city of Cleveland lost an icon.

And that makes us sad.

In Evaluating Stefanski, Look At All Head Coaches

The Cleveland Browns seemed to have pushed all chips to the center of the table. Over the weekend, GM Andrew Berry traded for three-time Pro Bowl DE Za’Darius Smith from the Minnesota Vikings for some mid-level draft picks.

Smith has accumulated ten or more sacks in three of the last four years, and in the one year he didn’t, he played just one game due to injury. We would seem to be a perfect complement to Myles Garrett, and also is another defensive lineman, which new defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz loves to collect.

However, the thing that most of the local media comes back to in evaluating the Browns is Kevin Stefanski, and is he a good enough coach to lead the Browns deep into the post-season.

Our opinion on coaching in the NFL is that in no other sport can coaching make as much of a difference as it does in pro football. It happens all the time. Heck, it happened to Stefanski. Don’t forget he took over a 6-10 team and went 11-5 and made the playoffs.

But we also believe there aren’t many difference makers among the head coaches in the NFL. We believe there might be five coaches who are special.

Of course, Bill Belichick is on that list. And unfortunately for the Browns, two of the other ones play in the AFC North, Pittsburgh’s Mike Tomlin and Baltimore’s John Harbaugh.

That duo has put together a “culture” that winning must be attained, and they will do everything they can, including playing non-traditional football in order to win.

Certainly, Andy Reid is one of the sport’s top coaches. His success in two different places, two Super Bowl wins, three championship game appearances, and his consistent style of staying ahead of opposing defenses put him on the list.

And that last comment about Reid is key. A lot of the coaches who make an early difference do so because they do something so one has seen before, but when opposing coaches figure out a way to combat that, and they usually do, they have nothing.

As a result, the winning ends, and they are looking for a new gig in three to four years.

So, being able to adapt is what makes a good coach in our opinion. We don’t like “system coaches”, ones who have a certain style of play and can only coach that style. We think the epitome of coaching is looking at your talent and designing a plan that gets the most out of those players.

Putting players in positions where they cannot succeed is bad coaching.

Can Stefanski someday be in the class with Reid, Tomlin, and Harbaugh? Probably not, but our point is those guys are rare finds. If the Browns make the playoffs this season, he will no doubt return for a fifth year as head coach, and likely go into his sixth season.

He has two new coordinators this season, and of course, adding Schwartz is a huge move. As for why he didn’t change defensive coordinators sooner. It’s tough to fire people you work with every day, especially for a long time.

We understand the fans and media want to be cold blooded, it’s football after all, but remember than coaches look at the games differently than fans do. They have to.

Stefanski was part of the reason the Cleveland Browns didn’t succeed last season, after all, he’s the head coach. But it is also true the players weren’t good enough, there wasn’t enough depth, and the defense wasn’t up to par.

And if they don’t make the playoffs this season, he will likely be fired and a new coach will be brought in. Unless you are in the upper echelon of head men, that’s the way the NFL works.

Can’t Argue Browns Draft Picks At Least Make Sense

For more years than we care to remember, the NFL Draft has been sort of the Super Bowl for Browns’ fans. With the trade for Deshaun Watson last year, the front office decided to pretty much do the same thing the organization has done with the championship game, that is, sit it out.

We also feel that some Browns’ fans watch the selection process and feel that every player picked by the team’s divisional rivals are destined to be inducted in Canton someday, while Cleveland’s picks will never pan out.

That’s what three winning seasons in the 21st century will do to a fan base.

We aren’t going to sit here and pretend we know how the players the Browns just selected will turn out. That can’t be done for several years. What we can comment on is whether or not the picks make sense.

And quite frankly, we don’t have any beef about the players making any sense.

Yes, you can argue about the lack of linebackers, a position group the Cleveland front office seems to not value, and we can see the point of the discussion. They did sign Utah LB Mohamoud Diabate after the draft to a guaranteed deal.

Their first selection at pick #74, WR Cedric Tillman battled injuries last year, but in 2021 he caught 64 passes for 1081 yards and 12 touchdowns for Tennessee. More likely than not (and draft experts agree), he would have been drafted much higher had he been healthy in ’22.

Stopping the run was a problem for the team last year and they did address the situation in free agency by inking Dalvin Tomlinson, but they added a defensive tackle that should help in 6’4″, 358 pound Siaki Ika out of Baylor.

We don’t think you can ever have too much depth at certain positions on the football field. Teams should always be looking at players who can get after the opposing quarterback and also guys who protect the passer. And like pitching in baseball, you can never have enough cornerbacks.

GM Andrew Berry addressed those spots as well, drafting a pass rusher in Isaiah McGuire from Missouri, and two Ohio State offensive linemen in T Dawand Jones and C Luke Wypler. Jones is intriguing just by his size, listed at 6’8″ and 350 pounds, but likely more than that.

If offensive line coach Bill Callahan works his magic with Jones, Cleveland likely has found its ultimate replacement for Jack Conklin.

And they also added another corner, Greg Newsome’s former teammate at Northwestern, Cam Mitchell.

We would guess the pick debated the most is the selection of UCLA QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson in the fifth round. No problem here, we kind of agree with former Green Bay GM Ron Wolf in believing a team should take a quarterback every year.

Josh Dobbs is Watson’s back up in the short term and we would guess Thompson-Robinson will compete with Kellen Mond to be the long-term guy.

And best-case scenario is one of those QBs has a great exhibition season and a desperate team offers you a draft pick for him. It could even be better if Watson misses a game or two (that’s not the good part) and the substitute plays great in the regular season game.

You just never know.

You also won’t know about this draft for a few years. One thing we do know is that Berry is going to have to make some tough decisions this upcoming season on players he selected. For the first time, he will have to cut a few of them it would seem.

Browns Still Have Faith In Watson. Without A Doubt.

Even though the Cleveland Browns had a pretty good free agent signing period, most pundits still don’t seem to think that highly of Kevin Stefanski’s squad, thinking they are still not a playoff team.

Most of that comes from the lack of faith in QB Deshaun Watson, who didn’t exactly light up the league when he returned from suspension for the last six games of the 2022 season.

After all, Cleveland went just 3-3 in the games Watson piloted the team, and his best passer rating in the half dozen starts was in the win over the Commanders, and he was only 9 for 18 in that game, but threw three touchdown passes with no interceptions.

The football press seems to have lost confidence in Watson, despite his last complete season in which he threw for a league-leading 4823 yards, and had 33 TD tosses and just seven picks. The Texans went 4-12 that year, allowing the sixth most points in the NFL.

Some folks in the local media have extrapolated that lack of faith from the national media and attribute it to the Browns’ front office, after all, what did Watson do in those last six games to make anyone think he can lead Cleveland to the postseason in 2023?

Don’t buy into that.

First, when the Browns decided to move off of Baker Mayfield following the 2021 campaign and go after Watson, they didn’t do it based on a whim or irritation that Mayfield had problems with some teammates and perhaps didn’t see eye to eye with Stefanski.

They did it because one of the league’s best quarterbacks, which Watson was at the time, was available and the Browns’ thinkers saw it as an opportunity to get a great QB in his prime, after all Watson will be just 28 years old when the season begins.

Really, what do you think is more indicative of Watson’s abilities, the three year period from 2018-20, when he led the Texans to two playoff appearances, including a wild card win over Buffalo, and followed that up with his individual excellence in ’21, or the last six games of last year, following a year and a half layoff?

The Browns’ front office, GM Andrew Berry, Paul DePodesta, and Stefanski did their due diligence, studied Watson’s time in Houston and we are sure it was discussed that it might be a long, long time before a QB as good as Watson, and in their prime would come available.

So, they went all in.

The Browns get charged with being dysfunctional all the time, particularly when they lose a game, but to us, being dysfunctional involves making knee-jerk decisions based on emotion. Losing faith in Watson after those half-dozen games at the end of last season would fit that profile.

They know what they traded for and they saw Watson in practice, meaning they’ve seen him more than anyone else. We are sure they still think they made the correct decision on giving up a lot of future assets for a player they believe can solve their quarterback problem for years to come.

And let’s face it, if they are wrong about the former Clemson quarterback, they made a colossal mistake, one that will take them years to recover from.

When you make a move like this, there is no going back, and that’s why the Browns went hard in free agency. They know the time to win is right now. We are sure they are confident that Deshaun Watson is the man to take them to the Super Bowl.

Losing faith on this would be a sign this leadership group is doomed.

Browns Use Free Agency To Balance Roster

Back in the late 70’s or early 80’s, we remember an essay in Bill James’ Baseball Abstract about the Montreal Expos. The Expos at the time had Gary Carter, Andre Dawson, Tim Wallach, Ellis Valentine, and Warren Cromartie (look them up), but couldn’t get over the hump to win the division.

James’ theory was even though Montreal had these five great players, the rest of their everyday lineup was so poor, it offset how good the stars were.

You may ask what that has to do with football. We thought about this in evaluating what the Cleveland Browns did in free agency.

You see, the Browns have star players. Myles Garrett is one of the best defensive players in the NFL, and Nick Chubb is arguably the best running back.

They have their quarterback now after trading for Deshaun Watson, and have a pair of Pro Bowl guards in Joel Bitonio and Wyatt Teller. Amari Cooper is an upper echelon wide receiver, Denzel Ward is one of the better cover corners in the league, and David Njoku is showing flashes of becoming an excellent receiving tight end.

But after those stars, the roster fell off pretty quickly in terms of quality.

So, although many Browns’ fans felt there were no big splashes in terms of free agency (Jessie Bates or Javon Hargrave), they signed a lot of solid players with upside, so the balance of the roster went from a “2” to a “5”, and that is probably what is needed.

GM Andrew Berry redid the defensive line, signing Dalvin Tomlinson and Ogbonnia Okoronkwo initially, and then added two more defensive tackles as wild cards, low risk, high reward players to improve the depth.

They didn’t get the kind of production out of John Johnson III the past two years, so they signed Juan Thornhill, more of a pass defending safety, and one rated higher by Pro Football Focus, for whatever that is worth.

They had two solid wide receivers in Cooper and Donovan Peoples-Jones, but they lacked speed, a guy who could take a short pass and make it a big gain. So Berry traded for disgruntled WR Elijah Moore, the 34th overall pick two years ago, and followed that up by signing veteran Marquise Goodwin, late of Seattle.

Cleveland also added a tight end who has worked with Watson before in Jordan Akins.

They traded the 42nd overall pick for Moore but got a third-round pick back. Some of criticized dealing the pick, the highest Cleveland had, but moving it for someone who is 22-years-old and has had two productive seasons in the NFL already? No brainer.

They also upgraded the special teams, adding Matt Adams, Mike Ford, and Jordan Kunaszyk.

We understand all teams think they are better after the free agent period, no team plans to get worse by adding talent. But the Browns had a very top heavy roster in 2022, and Berry and the front office needed to balance it out for this year.

Didn’t they see this last season? It’s a good question, because we thought the organization seemed to punt in ’22 because of Watson’s suspension. It seems odd to do this when you haven’t won an NFL title since 1964, but…

The Cleveland Browns made a lot of changes since the end of the season. Two coordinators have been changed, and a good part of the roster has too. Unfortunately, we have to wait until fall to find out if the latest plan worked.

Browns Fill Needs In Free Agency (Which Is What They Should Do)

We believe that in no other sport is coaching as important as it is in football. Think about it. Teams go from last place to first place all the time in the NFL. Sometimes, it’s about the schedule, but a lot of the time it is because a new coach or coordinator comes in and puts in a new scheme which better suits the players.

By the way, the opposite is also true. There are a lot of coach who try to fit a square peg into a round hole. Those coaches usually hit the unemployment line pretty quick.

We think the Cleveland Browns believed after last season ended that bringing in Jim Schwartz as defensive coordinator would improve that unit even if they didn’t do anything to improve the personnel on that side of the ball.

But we also think when Schwartz came aboard, he did specify some needs to make the defense better and that’s why the first free agent signings GM Andrew Berry made were on the defensive line.

Last year, it seemed the pass rush strategy was if Myles Garrett can’t get to the quarterback, then there was a problem. After Garrett’s 16 sacks, which ranked second in the league, the next highest total by a Brown was DT Taven Bryan. He had three.

That’s why Berry signed Ogbannia Okoronkwo, an edge rusher who played for Houston last season.

Okoronkwo, who played linebacker in his first three years in the league with the Rams, was converted to the defensive line last year and had five sacks and 11 QB hits last season, both career highs. He will be 28 years old next month and is seen as an ascending player.

At the very least, he will provide more outside pressure on opposing passers than the Browns received last year from the other side of Garrett.

Defensive tackle was perhaps the biggest problem for the Browns last year, so Berry signed 29-year-old Dalvin Tomlinson, late of Minnesota, to provide a huge presence in the middle of the defense.

Tomlinson is 6’3″ and 325 pounds and get after the QB in addition to being a run stuffer. He had 2.5 sacks last season. That would have put him third on the 2022 Browns.

The Cleveland defense was woeful in stopping the run last season and we would bet that Schwartz told the brass that they needed more size in the middle to stop opposing teams from running at will. And don’t forget, putting teams in passing situations will also help Garrett, Okoronkwo, and everyone else in getting to the passer.

And last night, they replaced John Johnson III by signing Juan Thornhill, previously with the Super Bowl champion Chiefs.

Thornhill has started 52 games in his four seasons in KC, intercepting eight passes.

We are sure there are some more signings (and probably contract restructuring) to come. We would love to add a wide receiver with speed and very good run after the catch ability.

And of course, there is still the draft coming up at the end of April. The Browns don’t have many picks and frankly, we wouldn’t be surprised if they trade their first pick (#42) for a veteran.

Berry and Kevin Stefanski feel the need to win next year. It takes a special rookie to high at a high level in year one and that’s what these two needs.

With Deshaun Watson able to play from day one, the Browns have no excuses right now. And that’s how they should be approaching the off-season.

Browns Goal: Make Watson & Chubb Together Be Scary

This is the silly season for the NFL. Free agency starts next week on March 15th, with the “legal tampering” being able to be done next Monday.

All over the landscape, fans are talking about what players they can bring in to help for the 2023 season.

And in Cleveland, it’s all about creating salary cap room since the Browns are currently over the cap. Browns fans being Browns fans, they talk about trading one of the higher paid players on the team for draft picks in order to create room to sign a veteran free agent.

Usually though, those higher paid players are the best players on the team, so does it really make sense to toss away a good player when you need to win next season?

It’s the mentality that all draft picks will turn out to be great players, which as we know doesn’t happen, and trading a proven star player for picks AND salary cap space is most likely just filling a hole by creating another one.

Which brings us to the latest stories saying the Browns should consider trading Nick Chubb because either Cleveland is going to throw on every down next season or to create cap space so they can improve the defense.

First, let us say that anyone is tradable for the right return. For example, if the Kansas City Chiefs offered the Browns Patrick Mahomes for Chubb or a team offered you two first round draft picks for him, you have to make the trade. We all know that’s not going to happen though.

We are sure the offense is going to change from a ground and pound style to a more passing friendly attack next year anyway. Why do we say this? How many games did you watch with Jacoby Brissett at QB and wonder why Cleveland didn’t run the football more?

Kevin Stefanski likes to put the football in the air.

And it’s Stefanski’s job to make sure Deshaun Watson and Chubb can play together and have the offense thrive using both. It’s not an either/or situation.

We have wondered for years why Chubb hasn’t been used more in the passing game. Was it simply because it was a good way to get Kareem Hunt on the field and get Chubb some rest?

Chubb did catch 36 passes in 2019, the year before Stefanski took over, but last season was his high in receptions with the current head coach. He had 27. And quite frankly, if the Browns gave Chubb 20 less carries and converted that to 20 more catches, why would that be a problem?

It would seem to us getting the ball in space to a punishing runner like Nick Chubb would pose a big problem for opposing defenses, and not being hit by defensive linemen would be good for Chubb’s longevity.

But the real answer here is getting to a point where both Watson and Chubb can be very productive. And that’s on the coaching staff. Having weapons like the QB Deshaun Watson and Nick Chubb shouldn’t be a problem. It should be an embarrassment of riches.

Are Browns “All In”? It’s About Time!

The latest sports topic making the rounds is whether or not the Cleveland Browns should go “all in” for the 2023 season. When you think about it, it’s kind of ridiculous.

Unless a team is clearly rebuilding, they should always be trying to win, particularly in the NFL where teams go from last place to first place every year. Just this past season, Jacksonville went from 3-14 to 9-8 and the AFC South title and won a game in the wild card round.

We have been critical in the past of the Browns’ sign in the bar mentality at times, you know, “Free Beer Tomorrow”. We feel it creeped in last year when Deshaun Watson was suspended, it seemed like the attitude at times was that because Watson would only be available for six games, the organization was better off looking toward next year.

When Jimmy Haslam and Andrew Berry traded three first-round picks for Watson and guaranteed him over $200 million, it signaled that the Browns have to make the playoffs for any season to be successful.

And remember, Cleveland also has Myles Garrett in his prime. Nick Chubb, probably the league’s best running back over the past few years is coming off a career best season. Denzel Ward is a top cornerback. And on the offensive line, let’s just say Joel Bitonio, Wyatt Teller, and Jack Conklin, all very good or All Pro players in Bitonio’s case, aren’t getting any younger.

And with the replacement of both defensive coordinator Joe Woods and special teams coach Mike Preifer, head coach Kevin Stefanski knows the Browns have to be either in the post-season or miss it by a tie breaker with a really good record.

What we mean there is although it is unlikely, let’s say the Browns finish 11-6 and still don’t qualify, we highly doubt ownership and the front office is going to fire the head coach.

However, the coaching staff changes, particularly two coordinators, signals this is a make-or-break year for this regime. We all know what former coach Jerry Glanville said about what NFL stands for: Not For Long.

We will continue to say the Browns have a good roster. They had a terrible defense last season, and despite Watson’s struggles when he did come back, the defense is the reason Cleveland was 7-10.

They hired an experienced defensive coach with a track record of success in Jim Schwartz and frankly even if no personnel changes are made, and we know there will be, the defense will be better because of the new coordinator.

As for the concern about Watson, if he’s not the quarterback he was in Houston, the Browns are screwed, and it will take them years to recover. We aren’t looking at those six games as a representation of what he will be going forward. And people currently ranking him in the 16th-20th range among QB’s seem to have an axe to grind, or are caught in the “it’s the Browns” mentality

We believe he will return to form though. He will only be 28 when the season starts.

We would bet everyone, from Paul DePodesta, to Andrew Berry, to Kevin Stefanski knows that barring catastrophic injuries, the Browns better have a very good season.

And it’s about time for that.

Browns’ Fans Have Something To Celebrate…Joe Thomas

Since the Cleveland Browns re-entered the NFL in 1999, their fans have had little to cheer about. There have been just two playoff appearances (2002 and 2020) and only three winning seasons.

The only winning season that did not result in a playoff appearance was 2007, a team that featured a rookie left tackle named Joe Thomas.

It’s not a Super Bowl or conference championship appearance, but at least Browns’s supporters will have something to enjoy and relish in when Thomas becomes the 18th member of the Browns to be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Thomas played 11 seasons with Cleveland and made 10 Pro Bowls. The only season he didn’t was his last, when he was injured. Without a doubt, he would have been selected that year as well. He was first team All Pro six times and second team twice.

Offensive line play is very difficult for fans to focus on, we all want to focus on the football and who is running it, throwing it, or catching it. However, what Browns fans did know (and the many, many quarterbacks Thomas blocked for knew as well) is if the opposition had an excellent pass rusher, he would be neutralized by the man who was drafted third overall out of Wisconsin.

No doubt, it was one of the best draft picks the team ever made.

Cleveland has had a long line of outstanding players at the position. Lou Groza manned the spot from 1948-59. Dick Schafrath took over for him and held the spot from ’60 to ’71. Doug Dieken succeeded Schafrath and played there from ’72 to ’84.

Before the team was moved, Paul Farren and Tony Jones had lengthy runs at the spot. But Thomas is the greatest of all of them. Most fans purchase jerseys of the team’s quarterback, running back, or wide receiver to wear to games or around town, in northeast Ohio, people bought #73 jerseys, the number Thomas wore.

He was the rock Browns fans could hang their hat on. He was good, excellent really, and the one player football fans around the country could recognize on the Cleveland roster.

He represented the city as well. No glitz, just a guy who worked hard and showed up every day, as his streak of 10,363 consecutive snaps shows. He personified the area. Heck, he famously went fishing with his father instead of attending the draft the year he selected.

Who does that?

It is a shame that after the 10-6 mark in Thomas’ rookie season, the next best season for the team while he was playing was the 7-9 mark in 2014. It is likely no great player in NFL history were on worse teams than Joe Thomas.

However, in a way, that shows his greatness. He didn’t have to be on playoff teams or contending teams for everyone to know how dominant he was at his position. The pro football intelligentsia saw the performance and talent. The Browns didn’t even have to win for it to show through.

Thomas is the first of the “new” Browns to reach Canton. Who is next? Perhaps his former offensive line mate Joel Bitonio. But it should be a big party just an hour south of here in July when the enshrinement ceremony takes place.

With all due respect to Darrelle Revis, Ronde Barber, Zach Thomas, and the others selected for the honor this season, the 2023 ceremony will be the Joe Thomas show.

An appreciation from the fans of the Browns of how much he meant to this franchise whose fans have had little to celebrate in the 21st century.