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#1902414 11/14/21 12:52 AM
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Joe Thomas: Browns 'adults' in OBJ divorce, Joel Bitonio on HOF trajectory, New England can present curveballs

Nate Ulrich, Akron Beacon Journal
Fri, November 12, 2021, 4:13 PM

Nate Ulrich, Akron Beacon Journal
Fri, November 12, 2021, 4:13 PM
Browns legend Joe Thomas is back in the news.

Thomas didn't sign a contract extension, but his close friend Joel Bitonio did in the buildup to the Browns (5-4) facing the New England Patriots (5-4) on Sunday in Foxborough, Massachusetts.

Thomas and Bitonio played next to each other on the left side of the Browns' offensive line for parts of every season from 2014-17. Thomas had already earned seven of his 10 Pro Bowls at left tackle by the time the Browns drafted Bitonio in the second round in 2014 to play left guard, so Thomas became a mentor to Bitonio. When Thomas retired after the 2017 season, he passed the torch to Bitonio as the face of the O-line.

All of this history came to the forefront Wednesday when Bitonio addressed Browns beat writers on Zoom after signing a three-year contract extension worth roughly $48 million. Bitonio mentioned Thomas by name six times. About an hour later, Thomas opined in a phone interview Bitonio is on track toward being worthy of induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, where Thomas will undoubtedly be enshrined.

“To get into the Hall of Fame, you've got to be one of the best at your position for your generation, and that certainly describes Joel Bitonio,” Thomas said. “Hopefully the story [of Bitonio's career] ends with a Super Bowl in Cleveland.”

The day before Bitonio signed his new deal, right guard Wyatt Teller finalized a four-year, $56.8 million contract extension with the Browns. The moves came on the heels of Bitonio and Teller helping power a ferocious rushing attack in a 41-16 win over the Cincinnati Bengals at Paul Brown Stadium.

The victory provided the Browns with a palpable emotional lift in the aftermath of wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. forcing his way out of Cleveland in the days preceding the crucial AFC North matchup in Cincinnati.



An NFL Network analyst, Thomas discussed the Browns' response to the Beckham divorce, the franchise's recent investments in Bitonio and Teller and strange experiences in New England during a phone interview with the Beacon Journal's Nate Ulric

How Cleveland Browns GM Andrew Berry, coach Kevin Stefanski handled Odell Beckham Jr. situation
NU: What statement did the Browns make in the Beckham breakup?

JT: “A lot of front offices, they want to be punitive. It's important to them, like, 'We need to punish this guy to make sure the next player gets the message that we're not messing around, and we don't care if it hurts us as a team, we don't care if it hurts the players or the organization, it's important to get back and get the revenge at the player for not being who we thought he was going to be.'

“But I love the approach from [GM Andrew] Berry and [coach Kevin] Stefanski by just saying, 'It's not going to work. We're choosing between a lose-lose situation.' Keeping him is not great. It's clearly not working. It's not good for [quarterback] Baker [Mayfield]. Cutting him and getting nothing for him, that's not great.

“But … you have to choose one of those now because it's only going to be worse the longer you keep him around. So I give them a lot of credit for being the adults, for having the maturity to look at the situation and pick the best outcome for the Browns and put their ego and their emotions aside in this situation.”



NU: What did the Browns' locker room show with the way it responded in Cincinnati after a week filled with potential distractions tied to the OBJ saga?

JT: “I can tell they're a very close group. They're a group that responds to adversity. In my opinion, that's what championship teams are made of because at some point on a run to a championship you're faced with adversity, and the champions find a way to rise up, they circle the wagons, they draw everybody closer, the focus gets deeper. Teams that are phonies are the ones that kind of ride high and they're front-runners and then when adversity strikes, they start pointing fingers at everybody else, they splinter and then they go their own way.

“I'm really proud of that team for being champions in the face of a lot of adversity and playing their best football because they've got an opportunity right now to go on a big-time roll and do some really special stuff 'cause everything's in front of them. They saved the season last week against the Bengals.”

Joel Bitonio's legacy could include playing whole career with Browns
NU: You played your entire NFL career with the Browns. How gratifying is it to see Bitonio set up to do the same now that he's under contract through the 2025 season?

JT: “I'm ecstatic for him. I'm so excited that presumably he'll be able to play his entire career in one place, hopefully put that gold jacket on after he's done playing, like Andrew Berry said [in the announcement of the extension]. He's an incredible player and a good friend and a great human being and just a perfect representation of everything that a Cleveland Brown should be. For us as Browns fans now to be able to kind of call him one of our own for his entire career, that means a lot. That's special. That means a lot to a legacy and the history of the Cleveland Browns, especially because in today's NFL it's extremely rare to have one player who plays his entire career — and potentially a Hall of Fame career — with one team.”

NU: What would be your case for Bitonio, a three-time Pro Bowl selection, to make the Hall of Fame?

JT: “A lot of it is going to come down to when it's all said and done what his resume says from an All-Pro, Pro-Bowl, team-success standpoint, but certainly the trajectory is there. My case for him would be that he's been one of the best, if not the best, in my opinion, player at his position for his entire generation. Toward the end of my career and shortly after, in my opinion, he kind of took over that role as the best guard of the NFL, and he's been there ever since.”



NU: Bitonio turned 30 last month. How is he playing compared with earlier in his career?

JT: “I think he's playing his best football right now, and I think that's a combination of a lot of factors — the dedication, the work he puts into his craft to constantly get better, but also I think the players around him. This is the best group he's played with on offense. Quarterback, receiver, offensive linemen, tight end, two stud running backs, and when you have talent around you that's playing well like that, there's a synergy effect … and it brings the best out of everybody. So I think he's easily playing his best.”

Wyatt Teller has improved details of game, developed into a top NFL guard
NU: Teller signed an extension, too, but did you think he might hit free agency in March before Berry secured him through 2025 with the new deal?

JT: “With as much talent as they have, I kind of thought that after [extending the contracts of defensive end] Myles [Garrett] and [running backs Nick] Chubb and [Kareem] Hunt and bringing in [right tackle Jack] Conklin, there were so many mouths to feed from a salary-cap standpoint. … Guards are kind of like linebackers where, unfortunately for them, they're like the afterthought of who we pay when we have to make tough decisions. But I give Wyatt a lot of credit for finding a team-friendly contract that works for him, that's a win-win, that allows him to stick around and allows [the Browns] to pay everybody else.

"We saw that with Nick Chubb, and I think that's a reflection of the organization that Stefanski, Andrew Berry, the other players on the team, the culture that's built, that people want to be here. They want to work in this environment. They're not driven to push into free agency to go somewhere else, to maybe make a little bit more money, when they know they're going to be more happy sticking in Cleveland and trying to be part of something special.”



NU: How do you size up Teller's game?

JT: “I love the growth that he's made. He's always been a physical, aggressive, old-school, knock-your-face-mask-off-type guard, which is awesome. It always gets the big highlights. It's what fans notice the most. But earlier on, he struggled in pass protection. He made little technique errors. He was rough. That's why Buffalo traded him [to the Browns in 2019]. But the thing I've been the most impressed with is that drive for perfection, which has allowed him to clean up some of those little errors, and now he's routinely being graded as one of the best guards in the NFL, which is a testament to [offensive line coach] Bill Callahan, but also the work Wyatt has put in. [He knew he needed] to get better at the little things, and he clearly has because he's playing incredible football right now.”

Reflecting on offensive lineman's rise in Cleveland: Browns’ Wyatt Teller emerges from garages, aims to be 'reliable at right guard for the foreseeable future'

NU: What is the franchise telling us by prioritizing guards?

JT: “The identity of the Browns offense is sort of this smashmouth run game with a passing game that comes off of that. So the guard is more important in this offensive scheme than most in the NFL, and the way the Browns pull their guards and get them out on the perimeter, you need big, physical, athletic guards to be able to have success in that running game. It almost doesn't make sense to sign Chubb and Hunt if you're not going to have guys up front who can block.”

Cleveland Browns will face daunting task with Nick Chubb on COVID-19 list
NU: With two-time Pro Bowler Chubb on the reserve/COVID-19 list and ruled out of Sunday's game, how do you see the offense approaching the Patriots?

JT: “This one is tough obviously because [Chubb is] such a great part of their offense, such a great player. You saw the impact last week. Kareem [Hunt is] not going to play [because of a calf injury], so they're down to [third-string running back D'Ernest] Johnson. The good news is they've got confidence he was able to step up and do it [Oct. 21 in a 17-14 win over the Denver Broncos] on 'Thursday Night Football.' Hopefully D'Ernest is up for the challenge again.

“But I think knowing and having confidence they were able to overcome a similar situation [with Chubb and Hunt out] a couple of weeks ago [with calf injuries] could be huge for them going into this game to kind of build on the momentum that they built last week. It's like, 'Hey, adversity. No problem. We dealt with adversity last week. No Nick Chubb, no Kareem Hunt? No problem. We know what the answers to this test are already. We've done this before. D'Ernest Johnson is a great running back. We can win with him.'”

Former Patriots quarterback Tom Brady isn't the only obstacle Joe Thomas remembers facing in New England
NU: Obviously, Tom Brady made it so tough for visiting teams to win in Foxborough. But is there anything else challenging about Gillette Stadium?

JT: “I do remember that our quarterback's communication in the headset always went out in that stadium. Maybe that's the conspiracy in me and my hate of the Patriots, but it always seemed like we struggled to get those headsets working for whatever reason. So if I was Baker [Mayfield], I'd just make sure to be ready with a handful of situational plays to fall back on if the communication does go out, so that it's not a panic, like, 'I can't hear you! What do you want me to call? Be calm. I know what to do in this situation. The plan B is right there.'

“I'll never forget the Navy SEALs came in and worked with us a couple offseasons and they talked about plan A, B, C, D, and that surely when you're busting down a door and going into a house, plan A is going to melt down really fast, and everyone has got to be able to smoothly and seamlessly move to plan B and not panic and understand, 'Hey, we're all on the same page. We're just fine. Smooth is fast. Let's go.' That needs to be the mentality when maybe something goes sideways in New England 'cause it always potentially does.”

Cleveland Browns injury update: Alex Van Pelt expects Baker Mayfield to be ready to take every snap vs. Patriots despite sore foot

https://www.yahoo.com/news/joe-thomas-browns-adults-obj-110041842.html


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Thanks for the good read on this sleepless night.


If everybody had like minds, we would never learn.

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That was a really insightful interview. Joe’s always good IMO.

Let’s hope Baker doesn’t have any helmet issues today


"First down inside the 10. A score here will put us in the Super Bowl. Cooper is far to the left as Njoku settles into the slot. Moore is flanked out wide to the right. Chubb and Ford are split in the backfield as Watson takes the snap ... Here we go."
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Great read! I loved Joe as a player and think I like him even better in his post-player career... extremely insightful!


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