Joe Thomas

Browns left tackle Joe Thomas wants to be back for his 10th season in Cleveland despite another coaching change.

(Ron Schwane, Associated Press)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Hue Jackson can breathe a small sigh of relief. His nine-time Pro Bowl left tackle Joe Thomas wants to be here.



Thomas, who said after the season finale that he might not want to return because of another coaching change, revealed Saturday that he's still all in on the Browns.



"Certainly I love the people in Cleveland. It's my home. I love the city. I love everything about it,'' he told WKYC Channel 3 at the NARI Home Improvement Show at the IX-Center. "So I definitely want to be part of the turnaround."



He also said the Browns landing sought-after candidate Hue Jackson was "pretty awesome.''



Browns Executive Vice President of Football Operations Sashi squashed speculation Friday that the Browns will trade Thomas to collect another first-round pick and more. The Browns' shift to more analytics has folks speculating that they'll deal their older players for picks.



"That's nothing that we're thinking about here,'' Brown told the team's radio partner WKNR 850-AM. "We expect Joe to be back and be a big piece of what we're doing.''



The news was welcomed by Thomas, who was nearly traded to the Broncos in November for a first-round pick in 2017 and a third-round pick in 2016. The Browns were reportedly only willing to part with the fifth-rounder this year and not the third.



"I almost got traded last year during the season, but that's something that as a player you can't really worry about too much,'' he said.



Brown also said during his introductory press conference on Thursday that he met with Thomas, a future Hall of Famer, and let him know how he important he is to the team.

"He and I sat down at the end of the season,'' said Brown. "He's a guy that's going to be a big piece of what we do moving forward. He has a tremendous amount of insight that we will glean from."

He said most of Thomas' questions focused on winning.

"Joe is like us, very competitive,'' said Brown. "I talked to him about what our plan was, what our strategy was and assured him that we are going to be doing everything to pursue winning here as an organization.''