04 August 2023 , 19:25
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Cleveland Browns legend Joe Thomas has revealed a rather bizarre request made by two-time Super Bowl winner Peyton Manning to join the Denver Broncos.
Thomas, the No. 3 overall pick for the Browns in the 2007 NFL Draft, spent the entirety of his playing career with the franchise. The offensive lineman retired in 2017 after spending a decade in Ohio.
The 38-year-old will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this week and is regarded as a legend in the NFL, but especially in Cleveland. However, it turns out that another team wanted to sign Thomas back in his playing days.
Manning, a Hall of Fame inductee in 2021, was a key figure in the Broncos team that won the Super Bowl after the 2015 regular season. It was during that year that Thomas claims that the legendary quarterback wanted to bring him to Denver.
Thomas was speaking to The Adam Schefter podcast for ESPN and was asked about the possibility of being traded to the Broncos. The former left tackle also told a story of how Manning apparently made a request to him in order to secure a trade away from Cleveland.
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Thomas said while laughing: "It was like, ‘Hey, Joe, I think you should go up to your GM’s office and make a stink. Literally, I want you to go up there, pull your pants down and make a stink on his desk because that’s the only way Cleveland is going to trade you’.”
Elaborating further on the possibility of a trade to the Broncos, Thomas added: "It actually happened right before the trade deadline. So, this would’ve been October during that season (2015) because Ryan Clady was their All-Pro left tackle – he’d been injured.
“I think he tore his patella tendon or his Achilles, so they were looking for a replacement because, obviously, they had a roster that went on to win the Super Bowl.
“But they were like, ‘Hey, Peyton, you’re not exactly a spring chicken anymore, so we need somebody that’s really solid that can block on your blindside’.
"I think there was potentially a lot more downside of trading me since I was the longest-tenured member and had a fair amount of popularity within the Browns fan base.
Former Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning apparently tried to bring Joe Thomas to the franchise in 2015 (Dustin Bradford/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)"Even though I think the draft compensation was fair, there was some trepidation about making that deal and being the one that sent me out of town.
"Peyton realized like, hey, the deal’s there. (Then-Broncos executive John) Elway thinks it’s fair. Everybody thinks it’s fair, but it’s not going to happen unless Joe does something very drastic.”
Thomas finished by saying: "He (Manning) ended up winning the Super Bowl that year, so he wasn’t wrong about the team that they had. I’m really happy to play my entire career for the Cleveland Browns fans."