Joe Thomas' storied final season as a Badger began with a venture to Cleveland Browns Stadium. A year later, he will start his NFL career in the exact same place as a member of the Cleveland Browns after being selected third in the 2007 NFL Draft Saturday.
""I'm really excited to be able to stay in the Midwest, to be able to go to a city like Cleveland that has tremendous professional athletic fans,"" Thomas said in a phone interview.
Despite Thomas' high ranking on most analysts' draft boards and his honors from his days at Wisconsin, Cleveland fans were not initially happy with the Browns' choice. Many thought Cleveland should have picked up Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn instead, but Thomas said he remained unfazed by any boos and the Browns ended up with Quinn anyway.
""I think historically at the draft you're not going to make everybody happy,"" he said. ""Whenever you pick an offensive lineman high, he's not the glamour pick. Everybody wants the cute quarterback or the fast, big receiver, whatever sort of offensive line haters or whatever, I was prepared for that.""
Thomas heads to a Cleveland team that struggled mightily last season, going 4-12 with problems mostly on the offensive side of the ball. And although the Browns' schedule is daunting, with four of the first five games against Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Baltimore and New England, they look to be on the right track. The Browns signed running back Jamal Lewis and center Eric Steinbach in the offseason and drafted Quinn later in the first round Saturday.
""The team has a lot of weapons and they have a good opportunity to win a lot of games next year,"" Thomas said. ""They've done a really good job building their line the past couple years and I think we're going to have a great line and open up some good holes for Jamal.""
One of the main storylines of the draft was Thomas' decision to not attend Saturday's festivities and instead go fishing with his dad on Lake Michigan. Thomas stated that he does not regret the decision in the least, after seeing Quinn's attendance end in disappointment.
""Matt Leinart came out this year after he dropped last year and said [going to the draft] was the worst experience of his life,"" Thomas said. ""It's too bad that they try to turn someone falling in the draft into TV drama.""
""It's a tough situation to be in, your family is there and every minute that goes by feels like an hour just waiting for your name to be called,"" he continued. ""I was sitting in my sweatpants, comfortably relaxing in a boat with the sunglasses on and watching the rod, so I think I got the better end of that deal.""
And as for the day's fishing success?
""We ended up catching about three fish, one really nice one [friend Joe] Panos pulled in right at the end, and it was a beautiful morning, what else do you want?"" Thomas said.
