Retired Browns tackle Joe Thomas is a first-ballot member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Now 40, he has dabbled in broadcasting and coaching, but he's mainly focusing on his family — wife Annie and their four children.
This week, Thomas took time to talk with FOX Sports about a number of subjects, including his favorite young tackles in the NFL, his pride in spending his entire career with only one team and shedding more than 50 pounds since his playing days. He also shares his thoughts about being named to the third-annual class of the Madden Ring of Honor along with Ray Lewis, Peyton Manning, Marshawn Lynch, Joe Thomas and Sean Taylor.
FOX SPORTS: You're seven years retired now, but I wanted to ask you about the young tackles in today's NFL. Who are the young guys you like and why?
THOMAS: I think there's a ton of really young, awesome tackles right now. It's fun to watch them, and I think they're really benefiting from all the youth programs that they have and the development that linemen get now that you just didn't see before. You look back to the offensive linemen summits that NFL players started doing shortly after I retired, and how that flow of information has really increased with social media and the way that guys are sharing information, which is really awesome. As offensive linemen, we need the help, right? We're always going against guys that are faster than us, better athletes, and they're training for one thing — to get after the quarterback.
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FOX SPORTS: Is there one guy that pops out to you when you watch games these days?
THOMAS: I've been watching [guys like] Lane Johnson and Trent Williams for a while, but, you know, Penei Sewell is a guy that I think is really awesome. He's been really fun to watch in Detroit. My buddy Hank Fraley is coaching him, and he's really turning into the All-Pro type player that I think a lot of people thought he would be. Tristan Wirfs is another guy who's a dominant, consistent tackle.
When I'm looking at offensive linemen and tackles specifically, to me it's all about consistency. It's great to have a couple of big pancake blocks, but I think just consistently giving your quarterback time and space is huge. Jordan Mailata, a guy that won the Super Bowl this year, coming from rugby and plugging right in, playing that left tackle position as well as anybody in the NFL. It's pretty awesome. A guy that maybe got forgotten about a little bit this year is Rashawn Slater, but I think he is going to be one of the great tackles in the NFL for a long time.
FOX SPORTS: I know you dealt with this more than you probably would have liked with the Browns, but what do you think about how the NFL develops young quarterbacks? What are the most important things to help a young QB learn on the job?
THOMAS: I think you need to have that stability at the offensive coordinator position, head coach position, because the quarterback is the most important position by far on an NFL team. You have the most influence over wins and losses, and I think you also have the most fragility in their ego and their confidence. It's really important to have this consistent voice, whoever that person is, on the offensive side of the football, as you're teaching the offense, you're teaching the progressions and the reads and just giving that young quarterback a steadying voice, because no matter who you are, you go through ups and downs.
I think about one guy in this Ring of Honor class, Peyton Manning. He had to start right away and didn't have a lot of success, but … he was able to ride [over] the potholes early on in his career to become one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. Just having somebody in that room on offense that can help you work through some of those lows — that could even be a backup quarterback who's got a lot of experience, like an Andy Dalton out there in Carolina. I think those voices in that room are so important, because I've seen plenty of young quarterbacks face adversity that they never had in their athletic career early on, and sometimes they don't know how to handle it and get over it.
FOX SPORTS: What role does the offensive line have in that? I'm in Tampa, and you see that Baker Mayfield has such a close relationship with his offensive line. How can that help?
THOMAS: I think it's really important, because our No. 1 job is to keep the quarterback clean. And if you got a guy back there that you love, and you'd proverbially lay your life on the line for, because that's what your job, is, you got to protect him like a bodyguard. You know, one time is too many. Defensive guys, they've only got to get lucky once, like somebody's slipping through a bodyguard. We got to be ready, and we got to be on our game 100 percent of the time. So when you have that connection, I think subconsciously, it just makes you want to go that extra mile for that guy who you feel like is one of your own.
FOX SPORTS: Who are the young quarterbacks in the NFL that have impressed you?
THOMAS: Well, I think Caleb Williams. I would love to see him make a big step with Ben Johnson there now in Chicago. I think it would be really awesome if they were able to give him some protection, which they've already made an emphasis this off-season, and give him an opportunity to showcase his skills. We all saw how great he could be when he was in college, and obviously he hasn't had that success yet [in the NFL], but has shown that potential.
I think for C.J. Stroud, he's got a good team around him, and he proved he can be one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. Had a little bit of a down year last year, but I think proving you want to be one of the next great quarterbacks in the NFL, the most important thing is early on is, how do you overcome that adversity? Because we've seen plenty of quarterbacks that have a good year or two. How do I bounce back after I've had a tougher season, or maybe have not met those expectations?
And a guy like Jayden Daniels, the other guy that had an amazing rookie season, so now it's like, how do you follow that up? Guys are going to have that book on you. They're going to spend all offseason trying to look at, what does he not do well? Where are the throws he can't make, and then try to force you to beat them with your left hand. That's the story of the NFL at every position, but it's just more obvious at that quarterback position, because, like we mentioned earlier, that is the position that matters most in the game.
FOX SPORTS: I want to ask you about durability and resilience, and the idea of playing your first 10,000 snaps in the league without missing one. There's some luck involved, but what do you think was the key for you sustaining that for so long?
THOMAS: Obviously, a healthy dose of luck is important. But then, the DNA that I got from my parents of just being really ultra-heavy-boned, where everything in my body is pretty sturdy, that helps. But on the field, just having a level of awareness of where all the other 10 offensive players and the 11 guys on defense are going to be. So you're able to have awareness of situations where you're getting yourself into a tough spot, like, OK, I'm going to get rolled up on because we're running zone to the right, and I know the back is probably cutting behind me, and the linebackers couldn't be coming down into that gap and tackling behind me and making sure, hey, I got to keep my feet moving. I can't get stuck in a hole.
So just little things like that, I think, were really important. And then how I took care of my body. I wish I would have hired a private chef year-round and known some of the nutrition and performance things that they do now, but I was really diligent with all the different modalities I would do, as far as stretching and yoga and mobility and the cold tub, ice tub. I spent as much time in the training room as anybody. I felt like my life was kind of rehab and prehab, just making sure that I was ready out there.
And I think lastly, there's a mindset of like, I'm not leaving this field until somebody tells me to. And I think that goes back to playing youth football. I never left the field. Played both ways, was an ironman playing O-line, D-line, outside linebacker, defensive end, and it was like, I'm not leaving unless somebody takes me off.
FOX SPORTS: You talk about carrying the weight, but you've lost a great amount of weight. I'm always impressed to see former linemen, even just a few years into retirement, and they're way down, so you barely recognize them. How nice is it to not have to carry so much weight?
THOMAS: Yeah, it's great. It was one of the things that wore on me towards the end of my career, just the amount of food I had to shove in my face, the quality, right? It'd be great to think I could eat quinoa and rice bowls and chicken like I'm a bodybuilder, but unfortunately, I needed the calories and the weight, just because practice and the games are so demanding, especially as a bigger guy. The way I ate actually contributed to a lot of pain and inflammation in my body, because I was just eating so much ice cream and so many cookies and things like that, to try to force the calories into my body.
And so I retired because my left knee got really bad, bone-on-bone arthritis. The doctor said, "Hey, this is just for life: Lose weight, your knee is gonna feel better." And that's all I needed to hear. So I lost like 50 pounds, pretty much in the first six months, and all of a sudden my knee started feeling better. And I'm like, OK, this is easy. And so for me, losing the weight was just about feeling better, and I feel so much better now. And it's such a relief to not carry around so much of that day-to-day pain and soreness. I'm like 250 [pounds]. I feel pretty good. I'm pretty big and heavy, so to get less than that I'd have to lose some body parts, I think.
FOX SPORTS: You are adding a cool honor this week, being named to the Madden NFL Ring of Honor, as part of its third-ever class and the first offensive lineman out of 15 former players honored by the popular video game. Were you much of a Madden player back in your playing days?
THOMAS: Yeah, I was a big Madden guy growing up. In the NFL, I didn't have quite as much time because I was more committed to the craft, but it's been great. I've got a son now who's 8, who is sick over the moon about Madden. So for me to be able to be back in the game, where people can play, and especially my son and his buddies, and then I can pick up the sticks and go against him every now and then and get humbled, it's pretty cool. It's like coming full circle in my life as a Madden player.
FOX SPORTS: Did the Madden designers get you right as a player, in terms of how you looked in the game?
THOMAS: Yeah, I was always impressed. You know, everybody gets excited when the Madden ratings come out, and I thought they were always very fair, and put me up there, gave me some bragging rights in the locker room.
FOX SPORTS: As someone who played his entire career with one team, how much pride you take in that? It's harder to find guys who play a decade and don't change teams, but you did that.
THOMAS: It's really special for me. It was really important for me during my career. There were times when I could have forced my way out and asked for a trade, but for me, my home was in Cleveland. From the moment I was drafted, my dream was to play my whole career there and turn them into a winner, and I knew that I couldn't turn them into a winner if I wasn't there. And I thought that the pinnacle of an NFL career would be to get drafted somewhere and be part of building a championship. … And that was my goal, always in Cleveland. Once I got to the city, they really embraced me from the moment I got there. Even as a lineman, I became popular. People would buy my jersey, and there was a mutual love and respect between myself and Northeast Ohio, Cleveland and the Browns fans.
Myles Garrett made the trade request this offseason and then ended up re-signing. The only thing I really told him about was how much pride I had and being able to retire with the team that drafted me, because it's so rare, and I think it's not given enough value in today's game. And I get it, if the team isn't going to give you what you need from a contract standpoint or a commitment to excellence, I get it. You only have a certain finite amount of time to be an NFL player. … You only have a certain amount of time to make the money you can make and be treated the way you feel like is fair. So I get that side of it, but I think then sometimes it gets overlooked about the importance and the value of playing in one place and becoming an intricate part of the fabric of that community and fan base.
FOX SPORTS: The Browns have been better since you left, but they're down again. What do you think Cleveland needs to do to get where you wanted the franchise to be?
THOMAS: They've got to find a good quarterback. … You know, a couple years ago, Joe Flacco took them to the playoffs with a lot of the same guys. I think we've improved some of the positions since then. Jerry Jeudy was a huge addition for us last year, and so I think the pieces are in place, and now it's just a matter of, can you find that consistent winning play at the quarterback position? Sitting there at the No. 2 pick this year, that's going to really help. So I'm very excited to see who they're able to put into that quarterback position this offseason, because if they find that steady play from somebody at that position, I think they can be back to a playoff team and beyond.
FOX SPORTS: You played with 21 quarterbacks in your time with the Browns. I'm curious how many you can recall off the top of your head.
THOMAS: You know, I've tried this before, and I'm always terrible. Probably about half. I usually remember the first guys and then the last guy, right? The middle [guys] are really tough for me. I start with Charlie Frye, because I played with him for one half. He was a captain and starting quarterback the first game of my rookie season. And then we traded him the next day. Brady Quinn, Derek Anderson, Ken Dorsey, all played that year. Bruce Gradkowski, Jake Delhomme, Seneca Wallace, Colt McCoy, Brandon Weeden. But then in the middle, I know there's a couple guys that played like a game or two. Jason Campbell played for us for a year, Johnny Manziel, Josh McCown, RG3 towards the end, Cody Kessler. And then I kind of struggle. Some of the other guys were only there for a little while. And I always feel bad, because I never want to leave anybody out.
FOX SPORTS: You got 14 right there, so excellent work.
Greg Auman is an NFL Reporter for FOX Sports. He previously spent a decade covering the Buccaneers for the Tampa Bay Times and The Athletic. You can follow him on Twitter at @gregauman.
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