Joe Thomas is the seventh offensive tackle elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.
Joe Thomas elected as first Browns Hall of Famer of expansion era
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Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland. He has covered the Browns since 1984.
PHOENIX, AZ
The first member of the Browns’ expansion era elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame is an offensive lineman. How fitting is that for blue-collar Cleveland?
I mean, the first player they selected in the expansion draft of NFL veteran players in 1999 was a guard. Not a flashy quarterback or a diva receiver or a power running back. No, a guard.
And now Joe Thomas, the left tackle who blocked for -- and suffered through -- 20 different starting quarterbacks in his 11 seasons with the expansion Browns, joins the legendary figures in the franchise’s once-glorious history as a Hall of Famer forever on display in the Canton football shrine.
Thomas is joined in the Hall’s Class of 2023 by four modern-era candidates – Tampa Bay cornerback Ronde Barber, New York Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis, Miami Dolphins linebacker Zach Thomas, and Dallas Cowboys linebacker DeMarcus Ware.
Also elected were four candidates from special categories. Three came as senior nominees whose modern-era eligibility of 20 years after retirement had expired. They are Cowboys linebacker Chuck Howley, Jets defensive lineman Joe Klecko, and Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Ken Riley. The ninth member of the class is Cardinals and Chargers coach Don Coryell, who was elected on his seventh time as a finalist.
Thomas and Revis became the 88th and 89th players elected in their first year of eligibility. This was particularly impressive for Thomas. He is only the seventh offensive tackle to make the Hall on the first ballot.
This unofficial honor speaks to the respect Thomas earned for excellence and unprecedented endurance -- an NFL-record 10,363 consecutive snaps played -- on a team that went 48-119 during his 167 games played.
Which is the reason, as Thomas’ presenter in the selection meeting in January, I opened the discussion on Thomas thusly: “Joe Thomas sustained amazing, consistent individual greatness amid amazing, consistent dysfunctional team circumstances.”
The selection meeting and voting on January 17 consumed roughly eight hours and was conducted via Zoom conference, which has been the case since the COVID-19 pandemic changed things in 2020. Hall President Jim Porter presided, along with other Hall officials, as 49 selectors presented, debated and then voted on the careers of 15 modern-era candidates and the four from special categories.
Here is a peek inside the selection meeting and how Thomas became the 18th primary member of the Browns to earn a spot in Hall of Fame.
It’s a team game
Nominees from the special categories were presented first. Their discussions laid a positive foundation for Thomas’ case.
Klecko and Riley – like Thomas -- never played on a championship team. The arguments made on their behalf were to not hold losing teams against individual great players. The message was: If football is the ultimate team sport, one individual can’t do it alone.
In the pre-determined order of presentations, Thomas’ was scheduled second among the 15 modern-era candidates. I wasn’t sure how the Browns’ losing ways would impact Thomas’ reception, so this early discussion encouraged me.
I prefaced my presentation by saying, “If the sentiment is to reward great individual players who toiled for non-championship teams, then, boy, do I have a candidate for you.”
The first ballot issue
After my opening presentation, which I kept under the 5-minute time limit, followed by a big assist from Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com, the discussion on Thomas ensued for another 10-plus minutes. It was then that the percolating “anti-first ballot” sentiment came up.
There has been a surge in recent years of rushing in candidates on the first ballot. It has created a backlog of deserving candidates who keep getting turned back in the finalist round.
Of the 87 Hall of Famers elected in their first year of eligibility, 60 percent have come since 2000. This has become a concern.
Nobody questioned Thomas’ qualifications for the Hall. But one voter voiced being “slightly uncomfortable” with Thomas going in as a first-ballot candidate.
This issue received much more passionate debate during the discussions several hours later, about Revis, another first-ballot candidate, and Kansas City Chiefs cornerback Albert Lewis, who was in his last year of modern-era eligibility.
As it happened, Revis prevailed through the exhaustive three rounds of voting to the end. Lewis made the cut to 10 and but not to five. With his modern-era eligibility now expired, Lewis drops into the seemingly bottomless pit of senior candidates, like Browns linebacker Clay Matthews two years before.
On the clock
I always put a clock on the full discussions of all candidates. The unofficial total times, including opening presentations, from longest to shortest, were:
Receiver Reggie Wayne, 33 minutes, 52 seconds.
Cornerback Albert Lewis, 33:40.
Return specialist Devin Hester, 31:41.
Cornerback Darrelle Revis, 26:30.
Receiver Torry Holt, 22:11.
Defensive lineman Joe Klecko, 21:41.
Cornerback Ken Riley, 20:33.
Linebacker Zach Thomas, 19:57.
Coach Don Coryell, 19:42.
Defensive end Dwight Freeney, 16:31.
Offensive tackle Joe Thomas, 16:07.
Linebacker DeMarcus Ware, 15:41.
Offensive tackle Willie Anderson, 11:30.
Cornerback Ronde Barber, 10:45.
Defensive end Jared Allen, 10:39.
Receiver Andre Johnson, 10:11.
Linebacker Patrick Willis, 9:01.
Safety Darren Woodson, 7:40.
Linebacker Chuck Howley, 6:44.
Final thoughts
* Two of the five longest discussions were on receivers Wayne and Holt, who have been linked together now as finalists four years in a row. Add in Johnson, a finalist for the second year in a row, and Hines Ward, who has yet to make the finalist round, and a logjam of receivers is fast becoming a concern. For this reason, a receiver not making it was my biggest surprise of this year’s vote.
* Another issue with selectors is the imbalance between offensive and defensive players. Of the 320 players in the Hall, only 104 are defensive players. Thus, there has been a conscientious effort to correct the imbalance. Perhaps that accounts for no receivers making it this year. Among the five modern-era candidates to make it, Thomas was the only offensive player.
* Hester failed to make the first cut for the second year in a row. I was disappointed in that. There is an understandable hesitancy to vote in specialists; there are only two place kickers and one punter in the Hall. But my point was Hester is the greatest return specialist in NFL history (a point shot down by at least one voter) and if you are the greatest ever at your position, you are a Hall of Famer.
* The 2023 induction ceremonies will be held on Saturday, August 5. The annual Hall of Fame Game is played on Thursday night, August 3. The league wants to pair opponents for the game based on the new inductees. So the Browns are a prime contender to be selected. As for their opponent, the Jets, with two inductees, make the most sense. The Browns have appeared in the Hall of Fame Game five times, but not since their 1999 rebirth year. The Jets have made only two appearances, the last in 1992.
