BEREA, Ohio - He's weathered the storm -- and the one that came next, and the one after that -- and as the Cleveland Browns prepare to open another season of change, Joe Thomas stands as the organization's one constant.
It's season No. 8 for Thomas, who's four times been named first-team All-Pro for the work he's done at the all-important left tackle position. When the Browns kick off Sunday in Pittsburgh, Thomas will be blocking for his seventh different opening-day quarterback in those eight seasons.
He'll also be playing for his fifth head coach, sixth offensive coordinator and fourth play caller in the last four years. Only one of those previous seven seasons has been a winning season for the Browns - his rookie year, 2007. He hasn't been on a team that's won more than five games since.
Through it all, though, Thomas has never missed a single snap. He's played in 112 games, made 112 starts and has played 6,935 consecutive snaps, the NFL's longest active streak.
Here, he's a little bit ironman and a little bit Superman, an unassuming superstar who's won awards for his off-field community work but on the field toils in relative anonymity -- every single snap, every single year and doesn't mind a bit.
"He's the anchor," Browns quarterback Brian Hoyer said. "He's Mr. Cleveland Brown. Not fancy or flashy, just a guy who does a great job with what he's expected to. Think about that expectation, to be expected to be a Pro Bowl left tackle every year. And he is. He prepares his ass off. He asks (quarterbacks) questions. He asks defensive coaches questions.
"He holds himself to a high standard, and that's the kind of guy you want on your team," said Joel Bitonio, drafted by the Browns last spring to play inside of Thomas at guard: "As a college offensive lineman, I thought he was the NFL's best pass protector. That's what people said. That's what I'd seen. Now that I see him every day, he's smart, he's sound, he's absolutely on top of his game."
The No. 3 overall pick in the 2007 draft, the drafting of Thomas came a year after the Browns gave Kevin Shaffer more than $6 million a year to play left tackle. To sum up how that went, a long touchdown pass on the first play of the Browns 2006 season was called back by holding on Shaffer.
Before Shaffer, such forgettable names as Roman Oben, Ross Verba and L.J. Shelton had manned the left tackle spot for the Browns. That's why, in the leadup to that 2007 draft, the Browns prioritized Thomas over all-world running back Adrian Peterson, Ohio-born quarterback Brady Quinn and a host of pass rushers.
The final Browns draft board had JaMarcus Russell as the No. 1 player. The Raiders took care of that, and knowing that was probably coming, Browns general manager Phil Savage and his staff decided before the draft they'd take Thomas, seeing him not just as an immediate starter but a potential 10-year anchor at a key position.
So far, so good.
On the day of the draft, Thomas turned down the chance to go to New York and instead went fishing with his father. He's gone fishing every February since on the NFL's dime -- in Hawaii at the Pro Bowl.
"Joe is a guy we admired him from afar," said new Browns coach Mike Pettine, who coached defenses with the Ravens, Jets and Bills before taking the job in January. "We knew that was going to be a tough matchup for whoever was going against him, and he's lived up to all of our expectations and then some since we've been here.
"He's a consummate pro. He's smart. He's tough and very athletic. He's stayed in this league for as long as he has because he is a professional; he knows how to take care of himself, knows how to prepare, extremely smart. I know there's a lot of good give-and-take feedback in the offensive line room, and also with (offensive coordinator) Kyle (Shanahan)."
Thomas has seen a little bit of everything -- quite literally -- and that may be his only regret. The ever-changing Browns haven't been the ever-developing Browns, and Thomas was candid discussing that subject this week.
"You can get to good enough level in a year or an offseason but there are so many fine details on offense that make the difference in one or two plays every week," Thomas said. "A lot of times, games come down to one or two plays. So it definitely hurts when you have different offenses every year because you don't have time to learn details.
"Drew Brees down in New Orleans isn't installing their Day One play on the first day of training camp. They are talking about the details from the year before because everyone already knows what they're supposed to do. So they sit in there in meetings and that's what they talk about - the tips of the defense, the way they hold their feet, the ways their eyes are, the safety rotation. It's graduate level thinking.
"Day One for a new offense (here) is, 'We're going to put in the most basic plays then go out and run them.' You can barely start working on technique until halfway into training camp when people start to understand who they're supposed to block."
Thomas keeps blocking the right guy. This latest scheme, installed by Shanahan, calls for zone blocking in the running game. By design and by necessity, these Browns figure to be running a lot.
"This offense is probably the last remaining offense in the NFL that emphasizes the run as much, maybe even before they would emphasize the pass," Thomas said. "Every coach wants to come in and give lip service to the offensive line and running backs and claim that they're tough guys by saying they're going to run the ball. But head coaches that are offensive-minded got there because Peyton Manning was the quarterback or Tom Brady was the quarterback and they threw for 500 touchdowns (in a season). When they say they want to run the ball, they're not really telling the truth. With Kyle, it's different."
The first test for this offense comes Sunday against a Steelers team Thomas said "has been running the same defensive system for 10,000 years."
In a way, it's a model.
"We just have to do what our job is," Thomas said. "It's a new offense, and we've got to show up and learn a new offense and hopefully this is the last one. (Hopefully) we'll get three, four, five, 10 years of this offense and we'll be talking about the details of this offense."
Since May, Thomas has been sharing details with Bitonio, who was a left tackle in college before moving to guard.
"I'm always listening to Joe," Bitonio said. "He's been in every situation. He gives me tips. He approaches things like he's never done them before and you just see him do right. He is who he is for a reason. He's worked for it."
Browns linebacker Paul Kruger played against Thomas when Kruger was with the Ravens. He signed with the Browns before last season.
"I obviously didn't know Joe personally, but I saw him as one of the greats in the league," Kruger said. "He's a decorated player. Top of his game. He just gets things done. He's athletic. Going against him every day makes me better. His habits rub off on people.
"You can't get him off the field. It speaks volumes about who he is. He just does it all right."
The Browns went through training camp with Thomas essentially getting every third day off, per Pettine. It was a maintenance plan designed to both reward Thomas for his past work and keep him fresh for what's ahead.
Thomas, who will be 30 in December, did not complain about that plan. When the subject was broached this week, Thomas said he isn't thinking about the end of the road but does realize he can't play forever.
"You're always taking personal inventory," Thomas said. "Most guys play until they can't, whether it's injury or a team just doesn't want you anymore. Very few guys that can still do it walk away. One of the only ones I can think of is Matt Light. He played 10 or 11 years and he was ready to go.
"I've been extremely fortunate to avoid major injury. But when you're out there in the NFL, there are things that happen every single week that pile up. From the wear and tear to the minor things that get braced up or taped up...you get back out there.
"My body is a little raggedy. It's a lot harder to get ready for practices and games than it used to be. To recover takes twice as long. The rookies go out there from sitting in the locker room to sprinting down the field full speed and at my age, you get a little jealous of that. That's not me anymore."
Come Sunday -- and for the Sundays that follow -- it will still be Thomas manning the left tackle spot. Every week. Every play.
"I'm not shiny and new," Thomas said, laughing. "I just want to keep getting better. I just want to win."
