No. 86: Joe Thomas

Meet the last vestige of an unfortunate era of Cleveland Browns football. The heavily remade Browns have lost 11 or more games in all but two of Thomas’s nine

Meet the last vestige of an unfortunate era of Cleveland Browns football. The heavily remade Browns have lost 11 or more games in all but two of Thomas’s nine NFL seasons. And with a full rebuild in the works, Thomas could be the rare franchise player dangled at this year's trade deadline. But considering that all along Thomas has been the steadiest lineman in the game, it begs the question: just how important, really, is the left tackle position? With the popularity of spread passing games, one could argue that old-school blind side guardians like Thomas are increasingly less significant.

— Andy Benoit