Joe Thomas' journey to Hall of Fame included an NFL recount of his snap streak with Browns

The iconic snap streak of Joe Thomas survived several threats, including a series of NFL clerical errors.

When Thomas is enshrined Saturday in Canton as a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's Class of 2023, the former Browns 10-time Pro Bowl left tackle will have Cleveland's director of football communications Dan Murphy to thank for correcting the league office years ago.

At some point in or around the 2013 season, the NFL claimed there were discrepancies while Murphy and the Browns touted Thomas for playing every offensive snap since the franchise had drafted him third overall out of the University of Wisconsin in 2007.

“Somebody at the league was like, 'Oh, we have him down as missing this many plays on offense,'” Murphy said in a recent interview. “So we kind of talked through it and we looked at it, and it all came down to fake plays on special teams.”

Murphy reviewed the official game books teams use to track player participation and other statistics, allowing him to identify what he said were “a handful” of plays in question.

The plays included runs of 34 and 68 yards by Josh Aubrey and Reggie Hodges on fake punts against the Minnesota Vikings in 2013 and the New Orleans Saints in 2010.

Joe Thomas played all 10,363 offensive snaps of his Cleveland Browns career, and the historic number is in the team's Ring of Honor

Thomas wasn't on the field for those, but Murphy pointed out to the league they were special teams plays, not offensive snaps.

“It's clearly a special teams formation,” Murphy said. “It wasn't like we lined up with our punter and took a real offensive snap. It was snapped from our long snapper. I guess that's what makes the difference. It wasn't a real shotgun snap or a regular snap.”

The NFL agreed, and Thomas ultimately received credit for playing all 10,363 offensive snaps of his career. Of course, the number would have been even greater if some plays weren't nullified by penalties.

Either way, Thomas' snap streak is believed to be unprecedented, and it didn't end until Oct. 22, 2017, when he suffered a season-ending torn left triceps against the Tennessee Titans. He announced his retirement in March 2018. Seven months later, the No. 10,363 was enshrined in the Ring of Honor at Cleveland Browns Stadium.

“If I had to bet, I'd bet it'd never be done again,” former longtime NFL and college defensive line coach Bill Johnson said of Thomas' streak. “Joe Thomas would be what I call a throwback. People just don't work like that and grind. I mean, work days are shorter now. Back when he got in it, before the [2011 NFL] lockout, man, we were busting each other's heads, two a days, on turf, everything. Things just changed.”

Legendary Browns left tackle Joe Thomas feared a torn knee ligament could have sidelined him

Injuries obviously presented the greatest danger to the streak. Thomas played through a long list of them.

“I was really good at just kind of turning that should-I-or-shouldn't-I switch off in my head,” Thomas said in March during a visit to the Hall of Fame. “The worst part about going off a high dive is standing there and thinking about it. The worst part of being a football player when you're laying on the ground is thinking, 'Am I hurt where I can't get up and I can't keep playing? Or am I hurt just because it's football and you're always hurt and I can keep going?'

“I don't know exactly why it was, but early on I just said, 'I'm just going to keep playing and try to turn that "should I or shouldn't I?" off in my brain, and I feel like my body will tell me.' The two times I've been hurt where I couldn't keep playing, my body told me. When I was in college, my junior year, I was playing defense and I was running after Cadillac Williams, and I stepped and I tore my ACL, and I fell out of the ground. ... Then my last game of my career, I tore my triceps tendon.

“You just know when you know. So I think that was sort of a blessing in my career that I never had to think about how hurt was I. I just knew I was just going to keep going and until my body said I couldn't.”

Thomas, 38, revealed late in his career he had fought through a torn lateral collateral ligament, three torn medial collateral ligaments, a back spasm that lasted for four weeks and two high-ankle sprains. He has said he suffers from memory loss but isn’t sure whether it’s a result of playing football.

In a recent text exchange with the Beacon Journal, Thomas explained the torn LCL he feared could jeopardize the streak occurred in the second half of the 2012 season finale against the Pittsburgh Steelers. If the Browns had played the following week, the problematic knee might have derailed Thomas' stretch of consecutive plays.

In 2017, Thomas reflected on the injury and said, “I tore my LCL and heard the pop and was in pain and had to really try to test it a little bit to see if I could continue to play.”

Seattle Seahawks great Walter Jones says Joe Thomas is 'well deserving of being a Hall of Famer'

Thomas became a fixture on the field, even though the Browns went just 48-119 in his 167 starts, earning only one winning season (10-6 his rookie year) and failing to qualify for the playoffs during his tenure.

“Even when his team wasn't winning, he can say, 'I played every snap that I was called upon,'” Seattle Seahawks Hall of Fame left tackle Walter Jones told the Beacon Journal. “That's what makes a Hall of Famer — a guy that stayed consistent, that did it for a long time and never was on the sideline, was always on the field, always there for the battles on Sundays. That's well deserving of being a Hall of Famer.”

Thomas took immense pride in his durability and availability. He thwarted another attack on the streak by refusing to exit the action on Oct. 12, 2014, when the coaching staff led by Mike Pettine tried to substitute backup Vinston Painter for Thomas late in a rare blowout win over the Steelers.

“[The coaches] had no idea [about the streak] 'cause it was a new staff,” Murphy said. “There was new staff every year or two back then.”

Murphy helped Thomas write his retirement and Hall of Fame speeches, and he also co-authored a Thomas biography with Akron resident and Cleveland.com reporter Marc Bona. As he interviewed people about Thomas, Murphy was told Painter actually asked other O-linemen if he could substitute for them after Thomas had waved him off.

“I remember talking to [Browns All-Pro left guard] Joel [Bitonio] about it in the book,” Murphy said. “He's just like, '[Thomas] never came out of a game, so I never wanted to come out of a game.' So it was the same thing [with] Vinston Painter. Joe tells him, 'You're not coming in for me.' So [Painter] is like, 'Hey, can I come in for you? Can I come in for you?' They're all just like, 'No, get out of here.'”

Joe Thomas used other sports to thrive: This is the story of how shot put and swimming aided the Browns icon on his path to the Pro Football Hall of Fame

In the world of NFL iron men, a single snap can affect how a legacy is remembered.

Former longtime New York Jets left tackle D'Brickashaw Ferguson logged more offensive snaps than Thomas, reaching 10,707. However, Ferguson missed one in 2008, his third NFL season, because the Jets coaching staff led by Eric Mangini took him off the field to run a desperation play featuring a series of laterals at the end of a 24-17 loss to the Miami Dolphins.

Cornerback Darrelle Revis lined up at Ferguson's left tackle position during the play.

And in a bizarre coincidence, Revis and Thomas just happen to be the only first-ballot Hall of Famers this year.

Travis Kelce reflects on Joe Thomas: Snap streak of Browns Hall of Famer won't be outdone, Chiefs star tight end from Cleveland Heights says

Nate Ulrich can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com. On Twitter: @ByNateUlrich.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Joe Thomas snap streak survived threats on Hall of Fame path