Joe Thomas didn't let up in his ninth NFL season, and the voters for the Associated Press All-Pro team took notice.
Cleveland's veteran left tackle was named to the squad for an eighth straight season Friday and landed on the AP's first team for the sixth consecutive time. He's the only Brown to make the cut on this year's AP All-Pro teams, which were selected by a panel of 50 media members who cover the NFL.
Last month, Thomas tied the franchise record for Pro Bowl appearances with his ninth in nine seasons, joining Browns legends Jim Brown (1957-65) and Lou Groza (1950-55, 1957-59). Last season, he became the first offensive lineman to make the Pro Bowl in each of his first eight seasons and joined a small group of NFL players at all positions who have accomplished the feat in the first nine. Every other player to do so made the Hall of Fame.
Thomas has started all 144 career games at tackle and has not missed an offensive snap since being selected by the Browns with the third overall pick in the 2007 draft. His stretch of 8,959 consecutive offensive snaps is the longest active streak in the league and his 144 consecutive starts trails only D'Brickashaw Ferguson (161) among active players.
Despite an up-and-down season for the Browns offense, Thomas was ranked as the No. 1 tackle in the league by ProFootballFocus.com. The website gave Thomas an overall grade of 94.3 with scores of 93.6 on pass blocking and 90.0 on run blocking.
