Joe Thomas doesn’t like playing for a loser

Cleveland Browns rookie Joe Thomas does not want to play for a losing team, because as he puts it it’s “no fun” and “sucks.” As childish as that sounds, it’s actually quite refreshing to hear a professional athlete not content with simply collecting pay checks who wants to win.

So someone asked what it’d be like if the Browns never made it to the playoffs in his career.

“It’d be hard,” Thomas said of never getting that chance, via Tony Grossi of ESPNCleveland.com. “I grew up playing football since I was 12 years old. At every level, I’ve been on winning teams. I never experienced a losing season [until] my second year in the NFL.

“Obviously, that would be a huge disappointment, just because it’s no fun playing in the NFL when you’re going 4-12 every year. It’s drudgery. It’s like covering a team that’s 4-12. It sucks.”

But his eye is on the prize, turning around Browns football.

“I think about the day of me running out of the tunnel in Cleveland Browns Stadium for a home playoff game. That’s my dream. That’s why I show up every day,” he said.

“The individual stuff is nice, but it’s not important to me, per se, because the fun in this game is winning and I want to go to the playoffs,” Thomas said. “I’ve never gone to the playoffs. Only one winning season so far. That’s my motivating factor to show up every day.”

“When the Cavs went to the finals, that was cool, but this is such a football town,  it would mean so much to everybody. It would be unbelievable,” Thomas said. “That’s one of those things that I try to talk to the young guys about and let them understand how important this team is to this city.

“We could be legends if we bring this organization back to where it was a couple decades ago, or even win a Super Bowl. You’d never buy another drink, you’d never buy another dinner the rest of your life if you won a Super Bowl here.”