No, Joe Thomas isn’t a new assistant coach for the Green Bay Packers.
Though the Wisconsin football legend and NFL Hall of Famer sported Packers apparel during a workout inside the Don Hutson Center as he talked to players and shared some wisdom, Thomas didn’t quietly become part of the coaching staff.
The Cleveland Browns legend was in Green Bay for another reason this week. He was there on business to promote his Hall of Fame brands beef company and attended the practice as an invited guest.
Thomas, a Brookfield Central High School graduate who recently was voted as the Journal Sentinel’s most impactful high school football player in state history in an online poll, discussed his appearance on ESPN’s Wilde and Tausch radio show on May 21.
“Coach (Matt) LaFleur and a few of the Packers have become loyal customers,” Thomas said of his Hall of Fame Farms, a cattle farm in Muscoda (located in Grant County) which he operates with a herd of Wagyu, a beef breed. “I was up there Monday night, had some delicious Hall of Fame Wagyu with Matt LaFleur and the coaching staff, broke some bread, chatted some football, talked life.”
He then stuck around town.
Thomas said LaFleur invited him to a team workout the next day.
“Talked to the team, (offensive line) coach (Luke) Butkus, hung around practice and made sure those boys knew where the best beef on planet earth came from, and it’s right down the street in Muscoda, Wisconsin,” Thomas said about his farm, giving his best business pitch.
But, what about that Packers gear?
Thomas said he actually showed up to the Packers facilities at 5:30 a.m. in a Cleveland Browns shirt and shorts.
Thomas spent his entire 11-year NFL career from 2007-17 with the Browns, where he became a modern Ironman. He holds the NFL record for playing 10,363 straight snaps that spanned from the start of his rookie year into his final season.
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However, Thomas was told by Packers staff that he couldn’t wear that apparel, which he understood.
“When you’re out at practice everyone looks the same,” Thomas said of any guest at a team-facility practice. “They’ve got the same (team)-issued gear on.”
“I tried to wear my Browns gear but they wouldn’t let me,” Thomas reassured Browns fans.
Despite growing up in Wisconsin, Thomas isn’t a Packers fan these days – that loyalty lies with the Browns – so he didn’t keep the team-issued sweatshirt and hat.
But he later provided the Packers gear to a farmer who had been involved in an accident after making a stop at a farm on behalf of his work for Easter Seals of Wisconsin.
“They care more about the Packers than some guy who played for Cleveland,” Thomas joked.
What did Joe Thomas think about the Packers offensive line?
While he was at the Packers workouts, he kept his eye on the offensive line. Thomas is widely regarded as one of the best NFL lineman in the history of the sport, earning 10 Pro-Bowl berths and eight All-Pro nods.
Players weren’t in pads or helmets, and they were going against managers holding bags, but he still left “impressed” with the unit. He highlighted former first-round pick Jordan Morgan.
“Great athlete, exceptional footwork,” Thomas said of Morgan, who is entering his third year in the NFL. “I was impressed with how he moved. I thought he was doing a really good job with footwork and hand placement and how quick he was moving.
“I think the offensive line is going to be one of their strengths this year. And Josh Jacobs is starting to understand how to run behind these guys.”
He also chatted with Packers tight end Tucker Kraft, who continues to recover from a torn ACL he suffered last season. Thomas shared a photo of the two on his Instagram account, an image that first alerted everyone to his presence in Green Bay.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Why was Joe Thomas at a Packers practice wearing team gear?
Reporting by Christopher Kuhagen, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
