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The only thing stable in Cleveland

The only thing stable in Cleveland

With the Cleveland Browns undergoing an overhaul this offseason, there are some rumors that offensive tackle Joe Thomas could be traded. If that’s the case, it could be classified as a charity trade, as arguably no great player has been stuck on such a bad organization as Thomas.

The third overall pick in the 2007 draft, Thomas has never missed a single game. During that time, he has made the Pro Bowl every season, while Cleveland has won just 47 of 144 games. That gives Thomas a career winning percentage of 0.326, and since he has made the Pro Bowl each year, he has the same career winning percentage in each Pro Bowl season.

There have been 78 players to make 9+ Pro Bowls. Among that group, Thomas has the lowest career winning percentage during Pro Bowl seasons. But the shocking thing is that it’s not even close: the 2nd-worst winning percentage belongs to the late Junior Seau, but his teams won 10% more games than Thomas’ Browns!

To find a player with a worse winning percentage in Pro Bowl seasons, you would need to drop the minimum Pro Bowl threshold to six; at that point, running back/utility man Ollie Matson (0.319) would take over. Drop it to five Pro Bowls, and linebacker Tommy Nobis (0.264), defensive back Goose Gonsoulin (0.271), and linebacker Brad Van Pelt (0.314) would make the cut as below the Thomas line.  And at four, you’d get defensive tackle Bob Toneff (0.214), offensive lineman Bill Fralic (0.292), Bucs defensive tackle Gerald McCoy (0.297), and defensive back Bobby Dillon (0.302).

Among that group, only Matson is in the Hall of Fame.  It goes without saying that among the game’s best players in history, Thomas is on the short list for having played for the worst teams.

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