Pro Bowl offensive tackle Joe Thomas, who’s never missed a regular-season snap in his eight seasons with the Browns, will sit out tonight’s preseason opener vs. Washington, three days after he gave the team a scare when he went down in practice holding his knee.
The Browns say it’s not an injury but coach Mike Pettine’s decision to keep Thomas out tonight.
It might even help the team in the long run. Starting in his place will be first-round pick Cameron Erving, who can play multiple positions but doesn’t currently have a position in the team’s starting lineup.
It’s as simple as Erving needs the experience and Thomas doesn’t. The Browns immediately called the practice-field injury to Thomas minor, said it wouldn’t require and MRI and said they would proceed accordingly.
With Thomas and center Alex Mack, who broke his leg last October, the Browns have the makings of a very good offensive line and potentially one of the league’s best. Getting Erving some full-speed experience can’t hurt, so sitting Thomas in the most meaningless of the meaningless preseason games was probably an easy call.
The Browns have 18 players not dressing for the game. Among the other notables are wide receivers Dwayne Bowe and Terrelle Pryor and cornerback Joe Haden. The team lists Haden as having a hamstring injury and will start 2014 first-round pick Justin Gilbert in his place.