Former Badgers’ offensive lineman Joe Thomas was selected as one of the NFL’s class of 2023 Hall of Fame inductees on Thursday. It was announced at the NFL Honors awards ceremony that Thomas will be one of nine inductees making their way into Canton on Aug. 5, joining the likes of Ronde Barber, Darrelle Revis and Demarcus Ware amongst others.
The Brookfield native Thomas spent four seasons with his home state Wisconsin from 2003-2006 before being selected third overall in the NFL Draft by the Cleveland Browns. At one point Thomas made 167 straight starts for the Browns at left tackle, playing an NFL record 10,363 offensive snaps over that stretch.
The offensive lineman appeared in 10 consecutive Pro Bowls to open his career and was selected as a first-team All-Pro six times during his 11 seasons with Cleveland. Although he never appeared in a postseason game, Thomas had one of the best careers ever for an offensive tackle and he has now been rewarded as a first-ballot Hall of Famer.
Wisconsin born ➡️ Badger great ➡️ @Browns legend ➡️ 1st ballot Hall of Famer
Congrats @joethomas73! Welcome to the @ProFootballHOF 👏 pic.twitter.com/ArT98TbD1L
— Wisconsin Football (@BadgerFootball) February 10, 2023
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