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Joe Thomas: I proved I don’t know anything about QBs

Browns QB Choice Football

FILE - In this Dec. 24, 2016, file photo, Cleveland Browns tackle Joe Thomas looks on before an NFL football game against the San Diego Chargers in Cleveland. Browns Pro Bowl tackle Joe Thomas hopes the team doesn’t rush rookie quarterback DeShone Kizer. Thomas said Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2017, he believes the team is grooming Brock Osweiler to start the season opener on Sept. 10 against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Thomas has been impressed with Kizer, the second-round pick from Notre Dame who had an impressive preseason debut last week, but thinks it will be better for him to begin the season in a backup role. (AP Photo/Ron Schwane, File)

AP

Left tackle Joe Thomas has blocked for a lot of quarterbacks during his time with the Browns, but that hasn’t necessarily given him any great insight into picking one to start for the team.

That was the case this summer. Thomas said last week that it looked to him like Brock Osweiler would be the team’s starting quarterback to open the regular season, but coach Hue Jackson named DeShone Kizer the starter for the team’s third preseason game on Wednesday and suggested that Kizer will have to flame out in order to avoid being named the starter for Week One as well.

“Everyone always asks me about quarterbacks,” Thomas said, via ESPN.com. “I always say, ‘I really don’t know anything about quarterbacks.’ And I proved it in this case.”

Kizer, who took no offense to Thomas’ earlier comment, said Wednesday that one of his goals is to make sure that Thomas never blocks for another quarterback. There’s a long way to go before we know if that’s the case and Thomas said quarterback is the hardest position for a rookie to play, but added that Kizer “knows what that is going to take if he really wants this job.”