NFL’s new player award should be named after a former Browns player

The recognition is a long time coming but Joe Thomas’ name should be attached

The NFL has always recognized its top talent. Individual awards for accomplishments are part of the league’s fabric. Most notable is the league’s “Most Valuable Player Award” given to a single player deemed to have had the greatest performance for that particular year. This is a coveted honor.

In all, the NFL gives out 11 individual performance awards, three group honors, plus four Philanthropy awards.

And now the league has invented a new award: “The Protector of the Year.”

While the league awards focus mainly on skill players and individual defensive accolades, this new honor will be given to the league’s best offensive lineman. The owners voted and passed this transaction at their spring meeting held in Minneapolis.

The annual winner will receive votes from a panel of former offensive line greats.

The award was the result of a collaboration between retired offensive tackle Andrew Whitworth and Buffalo Bills starting offensive tackle Dion Dawkins. Whitworth was selected to four Pro Bowls, named All-Pro three times, and was voted the Walter Payton Man of the Year in 2021. Dawkins has been selected for the Pro Bowl four times.

Whitworth has already been named to the panel along with LeCharles Bentley, Jason Kelce, Shaun O’Hara, Orlando Pace, and Will Shields.

Troy Vincent, NFL executive vice president of football operations, made the announcement Wednesday on the league’s decision to issue the “Protector of the Year” award to honor the NFL’s best offensive lineman, given out at the end of each season and included in the NFL Honors Awards event shortly before the Super Bowl.

Whitworth posted on X:

“This award means everything to the big guys up front. The Protector of the Year isn’t just about stats – it’s about the mindset, grit, and leadership it takes to be the foundation of a football team. It’s time the men who lead, protect, and never ask for credit are recognized as the backbone of this game!”

This distinction will be the only position-specific award handed out by the NFL for an off-ball position that doesn’t garner consideration for any of the other awards.

Individual awards to players, coaches, and executives in addition to the Most Valuable Player include “Offensive Player of the Year,” “Defensive Player of the Year,” “Rookie of the Year,” “Comeback Player of the Year,” “Butkus Award,” “Deacon Jones Award,” “Super Bowl MVP,” “Coach of the Year,” “Assistant Coach of the Year,” and “Executive of the Year.”

Philanthropy and sportsmanship awards include the “Walter Payton Man of the Year,” “NFLPA Alan Page Community Award,” “Bart Starr Award,” and the “Art Rooney Award.”

In addition, players can be named to the Pro Bowl, and a select few are annually voted First and Second Team All-Pro.

It is very odd that very few of these awards aren’t named after actual people.

The league’s trophy, given out to the champion, is named after former coach Vince Lombardi.

Before that, the NFL championship trophy was called the “Brunswick-Balke-Collender Cup,” and then the “Ed Thorp Memorial Trophy,” which was named after a noted referee and rules expert. The NFC champion wins the “George Halas Trophy” while the AFC representative is given the “Lamar Hunt Trophy.”

The “Butkus Award” is named after linebacker great Dick Butkus and given to the top linebacker. The “Deacon Jones Award” recognizes the season leader in sacks.

As a Cleveland Browns fan, one can only imagine just how many of these awards former Browns offensive tackle great Joe Thomas would have won if this were an actual thing while he was playing.

In the origins of the league, the NFL did whatever college football did. Their rules were college football’s rules. At some point, the NFL identified what an interception was and wished to start keeping tabs on this act as a new statistic. Instead of just starting this aspect on a specified date, the league statisticians went back to the very first game and started charting interceptions. Then, as the current league’s stats were tabulated, those picks were added to the numbers already tabulated.

Doesn’t it make sense to give this new accolade the panache that other honors have and name this after someone like the Butkus and Jones awards?

But in order to be fair, naming this new award after an actual former player should have some parameters instead of just being lumped into one group of “the greatest offensive lineman” ever.

For one, the award namesake should have played for only a single NFL team for the duration of his career. We don’t want a bunch of journeymen to soil the list. Secondly, that player should have played at least 10 seasons. As far as accolades, this athlete must have at least 10 Pro Bowls and been voted All-Pro a minimum of five times. Oh, and already inducted into his NFL team’s Ring of Honor. And of course, be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

And maybe just throw in one more aspect: whoever this award is named after should possess a minimum of 10,000 consecutive game snaps.

We want our award named after somebody who was durable and knew how to play hurt at a position where being uncomfortable almost every week was a rite of passage.

Got all that?

As Browns fans, we hereby nominate this new award as “The Joe Thomas Award.”