Joe Thomas And The Worst Winning Percentages Among Pro Bowl Players

by Chase Stuart on March 26, 2016

The only thing stable in Cleveland

With the Cleveland Browns undergoing an overhaul this offseason, there are some rumors that offensive tackle Joe Thomas could be traded. If that’s the case, it could be classified as a charity trade, as arguably no great player has been stuck on such a bad organization as Thomas.

The third overall pick in the 2007 draft, Thomas has never missed a single game. During that time, he has made the Pro Bowl every season, while Cleveland has won just 47 of 144 games. That gives Thomas a career winning percentage of 0.326, and since he has made the Pro Bowl each year, he has the same career winning percentage in each Pro Bowl season.

There have been 78 players to make 9+ Pro Bowls. Among that group, Thomas has the lowest career winning percentage during Pro Bowl seasons. But the shocking thing is that it’s not even close: the 2nd-worst winning percentage belongs to the late Junior Seau, but his teams won 10% more games than Thomas’ Browns!

Rk	Player	Position	Pro Bowl	Win %
1	Joe Thomas	T	9	0.326
2	Junior Seau	LB	12	0.427
3	Willie Roaf	T	11	0.455
4	Ernie Stautner	DT-DE-G	9	0.469
5	Barry Sanders	RB	10	0.488
6	Harry Carson	LB	9	0.493
7	Tim Brown	WR	9	0.500
7	Larry Allen	G-T	11	0.500
9	Larry Fitzgerald	WR	9	0.507
10	Ken Houston	DB	12	0.510
11	Tony Gonzalez	TE	14	0.513
12	Ruben Brown	G	9	0.521
12	Champ Bailey	DB	12	0.521
14	Jonathan Ogden	T-G	11	0.526
15	Anthony Munoz	T	11	0.527
16	Jim Ringo	C	10	0.541
17	Derrick Brooks	LB	11	0.545
18	Mike Munchak	G	9	0.546
19	Walt Sweeney	G	9	0.548
20	Joe Schmidt	LB	10	0.549
21	Leo Nomellini	DT-T	10	0.554
22	Walter Jones	T	9	0.556
23	Gino Marchetti	DE-T-DT	11	0.564
24	John Hannah	G	9	0.566
25	Bruce Matthews	G-C-T	14	0.567
26	Jason Witten	TE	10	0.569
27	Brian Dawkins	DB	9	0.573
28	Will Shields	G	12	0.578
29	Lawrence Taylor	LB	10	0.588
30	Julius Peppers	DE	9	0.590
31	Ray Lewis	LB	13	0.594
32	Merlin Olsen	DT	14	0.594
33	Randall McDaniel	G	12	0.599
34	Chris Hanburger	LB	9	0.599
35	Charles Woodson	DB	9	0.604
35	Warren Moon	QB	9	0.604
37	Emlen Tunnell	DB	9	0.606
38	Jim Otto	C	12	0.607
39	Yale Lary	DB	9	0.607
40	Bruce Smith	DE	11	0.611
41	DeMarcus Ware	LB	9	0.611
42	Maxie Baughan	LB	9	0.612
43	Mike Webster	C-G	9	0.613
44	Rod Woodson	DB	11	0.614
45	Fran Tarkenton	QB	9	0.619
46	Rosey Brown	T	9	0.619
47	Walter Payton	RB	9	0.620
48	Reggie White	DE-DT	13	0.630
49	Joe Greene	DT	10	0.630
50	Ed Reed	DB	9	0.632
50	John Lynch	DB	9	0.632
52	Alan Faneca	G-T	9	0.635
53	Drew Brees	QB	9	0.639
54	Norm Van Brocklin	QB	9	0.639
55	Dan Marino	QB	9	0.643
56	Mike Haynes	DB	9	0.644
57	Mike Singletary	LB	10	0.648
58	Willie Brown	DB	9	0.651
59	Derrick Thomas	LB	9	0.656
60	Johnny Unitas	QB	10	0.658
61	Bob Lilly	DT-DE	11	0.662
62	Bobby Bell	LB-DE	9	0.675
62	Jim Tyrer	T	9	0.675
64	Jack Lambert	LB	9	0.688
65	Mel Renfro	DB-RB	10	0.689
66	Jim Brown	FB	9	0.692
67	John Elway	QB	9	0.696
68	Brett Favre	QB	11	0.699
69	Forrest Gregg	T-G-DT	9	0.710
70	Randy White	DT-LB-DE	9	0.711
71	Ronnie Lott	DB	10	0.717
72	Tom Mack	G	11	0.731
73	Franco Harris	RB	9	0.739
74	Jerry Rice	WR	13	0.747
75	Alan Page	DT	9	0.758
76	Peyton Manning	QB	14	0.759
77	Tom Brady	QB	11	0.773
78	Lou Groza	T-C-DT-K	9	0.778

To find a player with a worse winning percentage in Pro Bowl seasons, you would need to drop the minimum Pro Bowl threshold to six; at that point, running back/utility man Ollie Matson (0.319) would take over. Drop it to five Pro Bowls, and linebacker Tommy Nobis (0.264), defensive back Goose Gonsoulin (0.271), and linebacker Brad Van Pelt (0.314) would make the cut as below the Thomas line. And at four, you’d get defensive tackle Bob Toneff (0.214), offensive lineman Bill Fralic (0.292), Bucs defensive tackle Gerald McCoy (0.297), and defensive back Bobby Dillon (0.302).

Among that group, only Matson is in the Hall of Fame. It goes without saying that among the game’s best players in history, Thomas is on the short list for having played for the worst teams.

Tagged as: Joe Thomas, Pro Bowl

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