Joe Thomas on the Hall of Fame, NFL Running Backs
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00:00 Well, I don't think there's any solution that's going to make running backs happy.
00:03 What's up everybody? Claudette Montana here with Sports Illustrated and joining me
00:08 is Cleveland Browns legend Joe Thomas. Joe, so nice to meet you. Thanks so much for taking
00:13 some time. How's it going? I'm doing good. Thanks for having me on.
00:17 Well, you got a big couple of weeks coming up. As we just talked about before we hopped on here,
00:23 you are getting inducted into the Hall of Fame on August 5th. This is something that so many guys
00:29 strive for but very few accomplish. So how does it feel to be on the verge of becoming an official
00:35 Hall of Famer? Yeah, it's really exciting. Obviously a lifelong goal for a lot of NFL
00:42 players is to be in the Hall of Fame and of course I got one of my presenters here behind me
00:48 ambushing my Zoom meeting like so many people are used to these days with family members.
00:55 But it's going to be incredibly humbling and I really hope that I have the opportunity to show
01:00 the gratitude that I feel for all of the people in Browns Nation, for all of my teammates and
01:06 coaches and the people that were just huge parts of the process including these kids right here and
01:12 that's why she's going to be one of my presenters. I saw a video also on Instagram of you actually
01:18 receiving your gold jacket. How surreal was that moment? Yeah, it was crazy getting my gold jacket
01:24 because that's obviously one of the iconic items that Hall of Famers get. The bust that goes in
01:31 Canton and then the ring that you get I think when we're down there in Canton as well. So being able
01:38 to put that on for the first time it felt really good because it felt like you were finally part of
01:42 that elite club and only an opportunity here in about a week's time to be able to make it official.
01:49 Okay, so you obviously I know also are an NFL analyst. I want to ask you a couple of
01:55 NFL questions starting with Zach Martin who's an offensive lineman for the Cowboys. He's
02:00 made the choice right now to not report for camp, still looking for a new deal. How badly do you
02:07 think that could impact the Cowboys who are looked at as a possible contender in the NFC this year?
02:12 Yeah, I think it could be a huge impact right because the offensive line for the Cowboys
02:18 in the last 20 years has really been the driving force for that offense. Obviously,
02:23 Dak is a tremendous player but when they've been at their best they've got an offensive
02:27 line that protects the quarterback and is able to move the ball on the ground. And Zach is the best
02:33 lineman on that unit and he's always been the bell cow. He's been the guy that everybody looks
02:38 to on that offense. It could potentially have a huge impact and it's definitely something that
02:42 I'm watching going into training camp. Yeah, another thing that a lot of people are watching
02:46 is what's going on with the running back situation right now. They're another position group where a
02:51 lot of those guys feel like they're not getting what they deserve in terms of contracts and payment.
02:57 I feel like what a running back was valued at was a little bit different when you were playing in
03:02 the league. How do you feel like the NFL goes about fixing this issue or at least coming to
03:07 some common ground where both parties can be happy? Well, I don't think there's any solution
03:13 that's going to make running backs happy because in today's NFL they're just not as valuable as
03:18 they used to be. Because one, you don't really run the ball as much as we used to back when I was a
03:25 rookie, back when I was young in the NFL. And so the necessity of having like one stud workhorse
03:31 running back is not really there. But also the replacement value on a running back is really low
03:37 because it's easy to go and replace a guy who's even almost at a pro ball level with a free agent
03:43 or a mid-round draft choice. And I think you couple that with the fact that running backs
03:49 lose a lot of tread quickly early on in their career. So by the time they're up for that second
03:53 contract, they really don't have the speed, the quickness, the power for the most part that they
03:59 had when they were younger, when they were in their early 20s. And of course there's exceptions
04:03 to the rules. You look at a guy that was in my draft class, Adrian Peterson, played really well
04:07 into his 30s and was a game changer late into his 20s. And guys like that, that are generational
04:15 talents, I think are still going to get paid. - Circling back to your Cleveland Browns,
04:19 because you did spend your whole career with that franchise, some people are saying that this could
04:23 be a make or break year for Kevin Stefanski. The team hasn't made the postseason in the past two
04:28 years. What are your thoughts on that? - First of all, they are going to make the playoffs. And
04:33 second of all, I think they're going to do a good job handling and managing the pressure,
04:37 because Kevin is a very low-key guy and he does a great job deflecting a lot of that pressure.
04:42 And I think that that's going to be key for them, especially early on in the season to get things
04:47 rolling. - Well, another guy that has a lot of pressure is Deshaun Watson. Really his first
04:53 kind of full season, right, with the Browns this year. What are your expectations for him? How do
04:57 you think he's going to fare? - I think he's going to do really well. Obviously, he did not play up
05:03 to his standards last season, but he was really rusty. He sat out his last year in Cleveland,
05:09 excuse me, in Houston. His first year in Cleveland last year, he was suspended the first 11 weeks
05:14 of the regular season. He was in and out of the lineup in training camp, so he never really got
05:21 on the same page with his receivers. He never got comfortable with Kevin Stefanski within this
05:26 offense, and it was really challenging for him to be able to knock that rust off, because he hardly
05:33 had any time to be able to do that. And so when he finally got out there, he was inconsistent,
05:37 which is what you'd expect with as much layoff as he had between his time as a starting quarterback
05:43 in Houston and when he was playing when he was in Cleveland. So I think it's going to be vastly
05:48 different this season, because he's got all the offseason during OTAs, he's got all of training
05:54 camp, and then he'll be the starter in day one. And that makes a huge difference, being able to
05:58 get up to speed with everybody else, not only on your team, but playing against other teams
06:03 in week one that are still kind of knocking off the rust from the offseason. I'm looking forward
06:08 to it. I know that camp's kicking off for, I think, pretty much all teams now at this point.
06:13 So we're starting to get a little bit back into it, and we're busy, which is always exciting.
06:18 You are staying quite busy yourself. You are joining us on behalf of USAA, so tell us about
06:23 that partnership. Yeah, USAA is the official NFL Salute to Service partner, and because of that,
06:30 I get to do some cool stuff because I played in the NFL. And one of the cool things I got to do
06:36 was going down to Randolph Air Force Base in San Antonio and getting to experience what life is
06:41 like for a military working dog unit. And it was a hot day, but me and Whitney Mercilus got to put on
06:48 the padded outfit and then pretend we were perpetrators and tried to run away from some
06:53 of these working dogs and see if they could tackle us. You know, we're pretty big. I'm not
06:58 all that fast anymore, but I feel like I could probably outrun some dogs. But that was not the
07:02 case because we were taken down very quickly and very painfully, and it left me some scars
07:09 and some wounds that I was not expecting to bring back with me from San Antonio.
07:16 Oh, that's great. I love that. All right. Last question for you before I let you go.
07:20 I'm curious who you think the best offensive lineman is in the NFL right now.
07:23 I got to go with my guy Trent Williams. I'm not sure that anybody is better than that dude at
07:31 left tackle. He's been killing it for decades now. He seems to show no signs of slowing down,
07:37 and he's playing in Kyle Shanahan's offense, which is very friendly to offensive linemen and
07:42 offenders in general. And so I'm excited to see what he does. He's just, I think, a year or two
07:48 younger than me, and I can't imagine doing much more than getting up off the couch and grabbing
07:52 a beer now on a Sunday and much less going around and smashing skulls with defensive players.
07:56 I'm going to say my favorite offensive lineman is Jason Kelsey because I love a guy that
08:03 likes babies, I have to say.
08:06 [BLANK_AUDIO]