Joe "Freaking" Thomas

Ok,

Joe Thomas probably wouldn't appreciate me putting "Freaking" as his new middle name but man, it's how I feel.

Joe

FREAKING

Thomas

Not that I like to listen to Steelers generally, but when OLB James Harrison said that Joe Thomas was the toughest O. lineman he faced then I took notice.  After all, Harrison was the 2008 NFL Defensive Player of the year.

Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com does a nice job of talking about Thomas' attributes here so I won't go into anymore for the purposes of this blog but wow, I think the Browns might have at least one building block in place.

And it's a big one.

COLUMN CONTINUES AFTER TODAY'S FEATURED BROWNS GEAR













Having a guy that is an all-pro and 3x pro bowler in his first 3 years in the league is HUGE, especially at such an important position like LT.

Former GM Phil Savage did do a nice job in not trying to reach for Brady Quinn at that #3 spot in 2007 or even take an Adrian Peterson there.

As nice as Peterson has been for the Vikings, and don't get me wrong, he's been a big part of their success, Minnesota was able to take him because they already had LT locked down with Bryant McKinnie.

I know the Browns have a ton of holes.  They likely need another RB, RG/RT, extra DL, TE, OLB, ILB, S, CB and probably QB but at least you can point at LT and say...

DONE.

You at least have hope that the team can turn around at some point when you can look at your offensive line and say "Hey...we have an all-pro and possible future Hall of Famer at LT."

That's something the Browns can build on for sure.

Let's hope that free agency and 11 picks in the 2010 draft starts to yield some of those pieces that the Browns can put around....

JOE "FREAKING" THOMAS.