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Where’s the love for Joe Thomas?
At long last we enter the month in which training camp starts.
It’s 23 days away for the Browns and it can’t get here soon enough, frankly.
You just want to see how it all plays out and whether this team truly can be a Super Bowl contender. Training camp doesn’t give you the whole story, but it does offer some clues.
And as if to whet appetites further, Pete Prisco of CBSsportsline.com released his annual “NFL Top 50” last week.
Two Browns made it — Braylon Edwards at No. 34 and Kellen Winslow at No. 44.
This guy rates Edwards the No. 8 receiver, behind Randy Moss, Terrell Owens, Steve Smith, Reggie Wayne, Andre Johnson, Chad Johnson and Larry Fitzgerald.
You can live with that, although Edwards did catch 16 touchdown passes last season, let’s not forget.
Winslow, interestingly enough, is the No. 2 tight end on the list behind only Antonio Gates. In the overall ratings, Winslow is two spots ahead of perennial Pro Bowler Tony Gonzalez.
Again, pretty much what you would expect.
But where’s Joe Thomas?
He’s not even listed in the honorable mention category, where Prisco dumps a bunch of guys who theoretically came close to cracking the top 50.
Like Edwards and Winslow, Thomas made the Pro Bowl. And he did it as a rookie. OK, he got in as an alternate, but he still got to Hawaii on the league’s dime.
It’s easy to overlook offensive linemen, but let’s not forget the impact Thomas and left guard Eric Steinbach made on the offense last season. Let’s not forget how they kept quarterback Derek Anderson clean, opened holes in the running game for Jamal Lewis and generally performed better on the left side than anything the Browns have had over there since the late 1980s.
Two tackles are listed in the top 50. Walter Jones of Seattle, widely considered the best at the position, checks in at No. 16 and Jason Peters of Buffalo is No. 27.
You don’t hear much about Jones because, well, he plays tackle and he plays it in Seattle. Nobody’s trying to say Thomas is better than Jones or on par with him — yet.
Peters, who was voted to the Pro Bowl before backing out with an injury that allowed Thomas to get there, is also a well-kept secret. Offensive tackle plus Buffalo, let’s face it, equals obscurity.
All I’m saying is that if Peters is good enough to be considered the 27th-best NFL player, Thomas is easily good enough to be in the top 50.
And I’m also saying that if you polled every NFL scouting director, I’m betting at least half would take Thomas over Peters.
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