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.