There are many words to describe Cleveland Browns legend and Class of 2023 Hall of Famer Joe Thomas's career in the NFL, but there is one that stands out above the rest: loyal.
For 11 seasons, Thomas was the Browns' left tackle, and despite the team never making the playoffs during that span from 2007 to 2017, he remained in Cleveland.
Thomas was a six-time first-team All Pro and 10-time Pro Bowl tackle during his time with the Browns. So, you'd understand why teams inquired about Thomas's services during his career.
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But loyalty is something that Thomas told Fox News Digital was instilled in him at a young age, and it carried over to sports.
"I think it was always important to me," Thomas said. "It was a value that my parents taught me when I was a kid – the importance of loyalty to your family, your community, your faith, your church, your friends. To me, it always carried over to sports, too, because I grew up in the early ‘90s watching football. There really wasn’t a lot of player movement."
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"Just being able to cheer for a team that had a player kind of his entire career. I love that as a fan, and I think there’s a nostalgic part of me that still appreciates that and loves that," he continued.
Today in sports, let alone the NFL, loyalty to franchises hasn't been the same. And as Thomas mentioned, it isn't just the player not wanting to be with the franchise. It works both ways.
Franchise are trying to keep costs down while players are recognizing their worth and not succumbing to deals they feel don't match it.
But Thomas never had that mindset when he was in Cleveland, even with all the losing. In his rookie year, they went 10-6, but failed to make the playoffs (the Tennessee Titans had the same record but held the final wild card in the AFC).
From there, Cleveland would reach as high as seven wins in Thomas's remaining seasons, which included an 0-16 campaign in his final year when he was only able to play seven games. In fact, that was the first season in which Thomas missed a game in his whole career.
"I think as a player it was important to me to be loyal to Cleveland and the Browns and the organization and my teammates," he said. "It was easy for me to love sticking around even though we didn’t always have the most success."
"I certainly understand why we are where we are, but that doesn’t mean I don’t long for the days when you had one player that was with a team forever. As fans, you could just cheer for him and knew he’d be around. You can buy his jersey and buy the jersey for a kid and knew he was going to be there and not have to buy a new Browns jersey at Christmas."
You'll still catch some No. 73 jerseys with "Thomas" written on the back at Browns games today. Thomas is a legend in Cleveland, one the city will never forget with a jersey that will never spoil or become obsolete.
And an hour south down Interstate 77 on Aug. 5, Thomas will be enshrined in the Hall of Fame, where his allegiance will never change.
"I’m really just proud on behalf of all Cleveland Browns nations to be able to go into the Hall of Fame representing that orange and brown uniform," he said.
