Joe Thomas (American football)

Joe Thomas

Thomas in March 2010
No. 73     Cleveland Browns
Offensive tackle
Personal information
Date of birth: December 4, 1984 (1984-12-04)
Place of birth: Brookfield, Wisconsin
Height: 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	Weight: 313 lb (142 kg)
Career information
College: Wisconsin
NFL Draft: 2007 / Round: 1 / Pick: 3
Debuted in 2007 for the Cleveland Browns
Career history
Cleveland Browns (2007-present)
Roster status: Active
Career highlights and awards
5× Pro Bowl (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011) 3× AP first-team All-Pro (2009, 2010, 2011) AP second-team All-Pro (2008)
Career NFL statistics as of Week 13, 2011
Games played	80
Games started	80
Fumbles recovered	6
Stats at NFL.com

Joseph Thomas (born December 4, 1984) is an American football offensive tackle for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL). Thomas was drafted in the 1st round (3rd overall) of the 2007 NFL Draft by the Browns. He played college football at Wisconsin.

Thomas became the first Browns left tackle selected to the Pro Bowl since Doug Dieken in 1980, and has since been selected to the 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011 Pro Bowls. He is considered among the top offensive linemen in the game today.

Early years

Thomas was born in Brookfield, Wisconsin.

He played right tackle, defensive end, tight end, fullback, placekicker and punter. He was listed among the top 20 offensive tackles nationally, a good PrepStar All-American, Second-team All-America offensive guard according to USA Today, member of Detroit Free Press All-Midwest team, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel First-team all-state defensive lineman and Second-team All-state offensive guard as a junior, and also received First-team All-state honors at DE from Wisconsin Football Coaches Association (WFCA) and Associated Press. He was also a great defensive player winning the WFCA 2002 Defensive Player of the Year. He had 85 tackles and 12 sacks as a senior. As a junior, he had 70 tackles and 8 sacks. He was listed as the third best prospect in the state of Wisconsin in 2003. In track and field, Thomas of Brookfield Central High School set the school record for shotput and discus with throws of 64 ft 10 in (19.76 m) and 185 ft 7 in (56.57 m).^{[citation needed]}

Aside from his athletic prowess, Thomas performed well academically. He was a 4-year honor roll student and a part of the U.S. Army Academic All-America team and played in the 2003 U.S. Army All-American Bowl.

Wisconsin, Nebraska, and Notre Dame vied for his recruitment before he signed his letter of intent to Wisconsin in January 2003.

College career

As a true freshman that fall, he mostly saw action as a blocking tight end. In 2004, he started all 12 games at left tackle, helping the Badgers' ground game with Anthony Davis and Matt Bernstein in the backfield.

In 2005, Barry Alvarez's final season, he started all 13 games at left tackle and was named a First-team All-American by Pro Football Weekly. He blocked for Brian Calhoun, who had an impressive year, racking up 1,500 rushing yards and 500 receiving yards. Thomas considered declaring for the 2006 NFL Draft, where he was projected among the top 15 picks (and projected as the second offensive lineman behind Virginia prospect D'Brickashaw Ferguson). The Badgers were invited to the Capital One Bowl against Auburn, where they prevailed 24-10. Unfortunately, Thomas tore his ACL playing defensive end because of injuries to other players at the position. The Badgers finished that season 10-3 with a #15 national ranking. Soon after the game, Thomas announced that he would be returning to Wisconsin for his final year.

His senior season in 2006 began with high expectations. He was named a preseason All-American, and was on the watch lists for several postseason awards, including the Outland Trophy and the Lombardi Award. As the offensive captain, he started all 13 games and blocked for P. J. Hill, Jr., who racked up over 1,500 yards on the ground.

Following the regular season, Thomas won the Outland Trophy as the nation's top interior lineman (includes both offense and defense). The Associated Press awarded him placement on its First-team All-American at tackle, along with Michigan's Jake Long. Thomas was a consensus 2006 All-American selection.

Thomas and the Badgers were again invited to the Capital One Bowl, this time against Arkansas. The Badgers prevailed 17-14 and finished the season 12-1, a school record for wins in a single season.

Thomas also excelled at shotput for the Badgers' track and field team.

He was a business major.

Professional career

2007 NFL Draft

The Cleveland Browns drafted Thomas in the first round of the 2007 NFL Draft (3rd overall) to fill a dire need on the team's offensive line. The Thomas pick ended much speculation that the Browns would choose other players including former Notre Dame QB Brady Quinn with the 3rd overall pick in the draft. They later traded up to get Quinn with the 22nd pick of the first round. Instead of attending the 2007 draft festivities in New York, Thomas chose to continue a family tradition and go fishing on Lake Michigan with his father and Joe Panos, who was also a standout offensive lineman at Wisconsin and former Brookfield resident. Thomas discovered he was drafted by the Cleveland Browns via cell phone.

Pre-draft measureables

Ht	Wt	40-yd dash	10-yd split	20-yd split	20-ss	3-cone	Vert	Broad	BP
6 ft 6½ in	311 lb	4.92 s	1.75 s	2.87 s	4.88 s	7.95 s	33 in	9 ft 2 in	28 rep
All values from NFL Combine

Cleveland Browns

Thomas signed a 6-year contract worth $43 million, $23 million guaranteed, including a voidable year, with the Browns. Thomas won the starting left tackle job, with previous Browns left tackle Kevin Shaffer moving to right tackle. He made his NFL debut versus the Pittsburgh Steelers in week 1 and played every offensive snap for the Browns in 2007. Thomas quickly became one of the top-performing members of the '07 draft class and was named the NFL's Rookie of the Month for November. Thomas was selected to the 2008 Pro Bowl, replacing Jason Peters of the Buffalo Bills.

Thomas came in second in the voting for NFL Rookie of the Year. He was the only other person to receive votes other than the eventual winner, Adrian Peterson.

Thomas has made the AFC Pro Bowl roster all 5 of his seasons in the NFL

On August 22, 2011 Thomas and the Cleveland Browns agreed to a 7-year $84 million extension with almost $44 million guaranteed.

On December 27, 2011, Thomas was named to his 5th straight Pro Bowl since the Cleveland Browns drafted him 3rd overall in the first round of the 2007 NFL draft. Since 1970, Thomas and Richmond Webb of the Miami Dolphins are the only NFL offensive linemen to make the Pro Bowl in each of their first five seasons. Thomas and Pro Football Hall of Fame running back Jim Brown are the only Browns players ever to be selected to the Pro Bowl for the first five seasons of their careers. Hall of Fame running back Leroy Kelly was the last Browns player to earn five or more consecutive invitations to the Pro Bowl.

NFL career statistics

Year	Team	Games	Starts
				Penalty	Yards Lost	False Start	Holding	Sack Allowed	Yards Lost
2007	CLE	16	16	7	40	5	1	4.25	23.25
2008	CLE	16	16	6	35	4	1	4.50	22.50
2009	CLE	16	16	6	40	4	2	6.00	40.00
2010	CLE	16	16	2	15	1	1	4.00	19.00
2011	CLE	16	16	7	40	6	1	3.50	25.50
Career		80	80	28	170	20	6	22.25	130.25

Personal

Thomas is an avid outdoorsman. Along with The Plain Dealer outdoors writer D'Arcy Egan, Thomas hosts the television program Outdoors Ohio on SportsTime Ohio. He lives in Westlake, Ohio with his wife Annie. He is also related to New Orleans Saints Tight End David Thomas.

External links

• Browns Player Bio