Joe Thomas on the Mental Toll of Losing with the Browns

Pro Football Hall of Famer Joe Thomas has spoken about the deep mental toll that enduring years of losing with the Cleveland Browns took on him. Thomas, who played his entire 11-year NFL career with the Browns, experienced a cumulative record of 48 wins and 119 losses.

In his rookie season, the Browns achieved a 10-6 record, finishing second in the AFC North. However, this proved to be the only winning season of Thomas's career. He described on the "Bussin' with the Boys" podcast the psychological strategy he employed to cope with the team's struggles.

"The way I entered every season was like, if I need to get the most out of myself, I’ve got to convince myself this is a Super Bowl roster," Thomas explained. "That’s the mentality I have to have when I’m training, when I’m practicing, when I’m going through film study. And so you trick yourself every year, but after a while, you’re not that dumb anymore."

Thomas recounted a moment during his tenth season, a 33-0 loss to the New England Patriots on October 9, 2016. "I remember sitting in the car after the game, and I was just crying. I had ice on both elbows and knees. I was in pain, my wife was driving and I was just looking out the window," he said. "It was that moment when I realized I’d been kind of fooling myself for a while, and we were not going to win no matter what I did."

This realization led Thomas to seek help from the team psychologist. "I ended up meeting with the team psychologist, just talking to somebody about it, because it had been like, almost 10 years built up to that moment where you came to the realization, like, ‘I’m kind of fooling myself. We’re not that team, and we really don’t have a chance. I don’t impact this game the way I’d hoped.’"

Thomas was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2023 on his first ballot. In his final season in 2017, the Browns finished with a 0-16 record, marking the third winless season in NFL history. That season secured the team the first overall pick in the NFL Draft, which they used to select Myles Garrett, another player who has experienced significant individual success without commensurate team success in Cleveland.