Browns Pro Bowl LT Joe Thomas told Tony Grossi last night team officials informed him that they have “no plans” to trade him. However, Grossi adds that we’ll whether this is the case or not in the coming days.
Thomas continues to come up as a potential trade option for the Browns, even though he’s by far their best offensive lineman.
A few weeks ago, Tony Pauline spoke to some NFL GMs who believe the Browns could take Laremy Tunsil and then attempt to trade Thomas.
Some have wondered why the Browns haven’t already traded Thomas to another team, considering that they’ve lost both Alex Mack and Mitchell Schwartz on their offensive line in the past few months, and it’s become clear that they’re going to be rebuilding their roster.
Trading Thomas could net the Browns a premium pick that could aid their rebuild.
Two speculative options for a potential Thomas trade could include the Seahawks and Lions, as they both showed interest in offensive tackles during free agency, but didn’t add any notable players at the position.
The Browns were discussing a potential trade that would have sent Thomas to the Broncos in the days leading up to last year’s traded deadline. Although, the two sides couldn’t reach an agreement on compensation and the deadline passed without a deal being completed.
Thomas, 31, is a former first-round pick of the Browns back in 2007. He’s entering the sixth-year of his eight-year, $92 million contract that included $44 million guaranteed.
Thomas stands to make base salaries of $8.3 million (2016), $8.8 million (2017) and $8.8 million (2018) over the remainder of the contract.
In 2015, Thomas appeared in all 16 games for the Browns and was rated by Pro Football Focus as the No. 1 offensive tackle out of 77 qualifying players.
We’ll have more regarding a potential trade involving Thomas as the news is available.
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