CLEVELAND, Ohio – Joe Thomas doesn't take his place in the game or franchise history for granted.

It's why hours before every kickoff he walks onto the field to immerse himself in a stadium's atmosphere and reconnect with his childhood love of football.

"It's my moment to be a kid again," Thomas said.

It's also a time when he taps into the "brotherhood" of his position and the position it plays in Browns' lore. Thomas achieves it through conversations with Doug Dieken, the team's radio analyst who offers him a direct link to the club's glorious past.

Dieken started at left tackle full time from 1972-84. He was scouted by Hall-of-Famer Lou Groza and replaced legendary Dick Schafrath. Those three men protected the blindside of Browns' quarterbacks for 38 years, almost without interruption.

As other players stretch and warm up around them, Thomas and Dieken talk about that day's opponent and whatever else comes to mind. The exchanges have evolved organically and become ritual.

"It's just the brotherhood that we have playing the same position for as long as we have and for the same franchise," Thomas explained. "It's an honor to play a position that's had so many great players here before me."

The Browns' legacy at left tackle Player Yrs. as starter Playoff seasons Pro Bowls Joe Thomas 2007-present 0 7 Tony Jones 1990-95 1 0 Paul Ferran 1985-89 5 0 Doug Dieken 1972-84 3 1 Dick Schafrath 1960-71 6 6 * Lou Groza 1948-59 11 9 * Groza's playoff appearances denote the years he played tackle. He also made three more appearances as just a kicker.

Other than the nickname and colors, there's little in common with the franchise that left in 1995 and the one that returned four years later. Instability is rampant, quality in short supply.

There were essentially five left tackles from 1948 to 1995. The expansion Browns went through six from 1999 until they drafted Thomas out of Wisconsin in 2007.

When they first met, the third overall pick apologized to Dieken for taking his jersey No. 73.

"I told him, 'Don't worry about it, I used up all the holding penalties,'" Dieken said.

The longtime analyst has watched Thomas blossom into one of the game's greats -- a four-time, first-team All Pro destined to end his career 60 miles down Route 77 in Canton. Along the way, Thomas has developed a deep respect for those who manned the position before him.

Earlier this summer, he delighted in meeting the feisty 77-year-old Schafrath for the first time in Berea. Thomas appreciates the fact he comes to work every day at 76 Lou Groza Boulevard, the address of the team's training facility.

Groza, Schafrath, Dieken and Thomas have combined for 23 Pro Bowl appearances and countless stories that burnish the legacy of the Browns' left tackle.

Groza saved lives in World War II before winning eight titles in Cleveland. Schafrath, a Wooster native, so badly wanted to become a Brown he rigged a 20-pound weight to his jock strap to convince coaches he was big enough to play on their offensive line.

"It's really cool being in that small, little group talking, sharing stories and knowing what the position means to this franchise," Thomas said.

'Like I just saw God'

Among Dieken's prized possessions is a black-and-white photo he keeps in a frame. It shows Groza, Schafrath and Dieken posing on a staircase at a Cleveland Touchdown Club function in the mid 1970s.

Former Cleveland Browns left tackles (L to R) Lou Groza, Dick Schafrath and Doug Dieken during a Cleveland Touchdown Club function. (Photo courtesy of Doug Dieken)

"Lou Groza is the greatest Browns ambassador the game ever had," Dieken said. "He's a guy if you sat down to dinner and said, 'Hey Lou can a get an autograph?' He'd say, 'Sure, why don't you have a drink with us, too.'

" . . . And Dick is one of the game's great characters. He was always trying to get me to marry one of his ex-wives so he wouldn't have to pay alimony."

Groza played in 13 championship games during a Browns' career that began with the franchise's inception in 1946 and concluded in 1967. Before that he was simply an American hero.

The Ohio State product served in the Pacific Theater as an Army surgical technician, aiding wounded U.S. soldiers.

"Players like Lou knew what it really meant to be part of a team having fought in the war," Pro Football Hall of Fame executive Joe Horrigan said. "In football, we use terms like 'winning in the trenches.' It meant something different to players of that generation."

Dubbed "The Toe" for his kicking prowess, Groza sometimes is forgotten for his contributions as a great left tackle, Horrigan added. He protected Otto Graham and opened holes for Marion Motley and Jim Brown.

Growing up on a farm in Wooster, Schafrath idolized Groza. He listened to Browns games on a transistor radio and occasionally saw them on television at a nearby general store.

Schafrath used to pretend he was No. 76 as he practiced his drop kicks on the farm, incurring his father's wrath for neglecting chores. Before joining coach Woody Hayes at OSU in 1955, Schafrath met Groza in Wooster – an encounter he said was arranged by Paul Brown.

"I couldn't say anything," Schafrath recalled. "It was like I just saw God."

In 1959, the Browns drafted the farm boy who arrived at training camp weighing 220 pounds. Hoping to dupe coaches at his weigh in, Schafrath had a friend connect a pair of suspenders to his jock strap, allowing him to slip a 20-pound iron weight into it.

A skeptical Paul Brown made him remove his shirt and shorts and the ruse was quickly discovered.

"Coach said, 'We're gonna keep you, but you've got to put on some weight," said the lineman who earned $7,000 in his rookie season.

Years before it became standard practice, Schafrath started lifting weights to build his frame to 250 pounds. He was a vital blocker on the Browns' signature run plays – the power sweep, trap and draw – and best remembered for how enthusiastically he congratulated touchdown makers in the end zone.

In 1960, Groza briefly retired with back problems, a move that enabled his protege to supplant him at left tackle.

Joe Thomas celebrates after kicking an extra-point during training camp.

Schafrath said Groza could not have been more encouraging, teaching him everything he knew about mastering the position. The Browns won their last title in 1964 with Schafrath at left tackle and Groza kicking field goals and extra points.

"Lou lived for the Browns," Schafrath said of Groza who died at age 76 in 2000. "He would do anything for the team and that included helping a younger player take his job. I tried to keep that in mind when Dieken came along and took my job."

At training camp this year, Browns offensive and defensive linemen were pitted in an extra-point kicking competition. Some participants employed the traditional soccer-style approach. Not Thomas.

Honoring the brotherhood, he kicked it straight on like Groza. The ball flew dead center between the uprights.

The 'street fighter'

Rarely a day passes in season when you don't see Thomas and Dieken taking a few minutes to chat. It's usually in the locker room during the period open to the media.

As their friendship burgeoned, Thomas began to realize how much they have in common despite the age gap.

"We both grew up in the Midwest, played at Big Ten schools and both own farms back in our home states," said Thomas, 29. "We'll talk in the locker room or the team hotel and even have a beer now and again."

Many young fans know Dieken, 65, as a Browns' analyst on radio and television. But near the end of his rookie year in 1971 he took over for Schafrath, who on an off-season dare ran from the old stadium to his high school field in Wooster, a 62-mile jaunt that sapped power from his 34-year-old legs.

Dieken, a converted tight end from Illinois, made three playoff appearances with the Browns and was a member of the iconic Kardiac Kids in 1980. He started 198 straight games despite playing left tackle out of a right-handed stance.

He chuckles when thinking about the difference in technique between himself and Thomas.

"Joe is like Muhammad Ali boxing and I was like street fighter," said Dieken. "I didn't have the size or the training to be a tackle.

"Joe has great feet, good hand placement and he's a competitor . . . He also has a lot of confidence in his ability."

Thomas possesses all the money and individual honor any star player could want. But he lacks one thing that Groza, Schafrath, Dieken, Paul Farren and Tony Jones – the primary left tackles of the pre-1999 Browns – all achieved during their time with the franchise.

The missing link

Sitting on a bench outside the Browns locker room, Thomas spoke recently about the "big hole in my career."

Browns offensive lineman Joe Thomas plays with his daughter Logan during training camp.

"It's the lack of (team) success," he said. "I look at the guys who have played my position going way back and all of them have had great success on outstanding teams, won championships or made playoff runs."

In his rookie season the club won 10 games, a highpoint for the expansion Browns who just missed postseason in 2007.

Since then, Thomas hasn't won more than five times in a season while serving under five coaches and general managers. The club's most tenured player has watched longtime teammates such as Phil Dawson (San Francisco) and D'Qwell Jackson (Indianapolis) join franchises likely headed back to the playoffs this season.

It's too early to make a call on the Browns (1-2) although the offense is performing better than anticipated.

Dieken and Thomas discuss the void in the current No. 73's resume.

"I haven't been able to play in the playoffs and be in Cleveland and feel the excitement around a playoff team year in and year out," said Thomas, who's never missed a snap in his career. "Doug says it's such an electric city to be a part of. It's cliche to say the Browns fans are the greatest in the NFL, but they really are because of how passionate they are about the team and how much it means to them and they show it .

"Doug talked about how much fun it was when you're on a team winning in Cleveland."

Honolulu is lush in winter, but the thought of running out of the FirstEnergy Stadium tunnel for a playoff game in mid January is his idea of paradise. He wants to experience it at least once before taking his place alongside Groza in Canton.

Only then will Thomas know the full benefits of brotherhood in the exclusive left-tackle fraternity.