In the final years of his career, Joe Thomas had what he described as a "breakdown moment."
Appearing Friday on "The Ken Carman Show with Anthony Lima," the Browns legend detailed the mental toll the NFL season takes on players, and how it hit him at the end of his career.
"It’s just like being a fan when you build yourself up, every single week to that Sunday, where you’re going in, and you’ve convinced yourself, just like I’m going right now, ’I think we’re gonna win this game,' Thomas said. "That’s the mindset that you have to get into as a professional athlete to get the most out of yourself. Because as soon as you start thinking, ‘Eh, we’re probably not gonna win’ that’s when you start subconsciously making those decisions in a sport that’s built on violence and big, tough, strong people giving every bit of effort they have for 69 individual reps every single Sunday.
"And so, you build yourself up and you create this narrative in your mind that, ‘yea, we have a chance, we’re gonna win...’ and then when it comes crashing down every week, I think everybody kind of has that breaking point, and for me it was that last season or two of my career ... You have that ‘come to Jesus’ moment in your brain where you’re like, ‘I can’t fool myself anymore.’ And it’s kind of a breakdown moment as an athlete that’s played sports my entire life. That was, I feel like, the first time where I felt like I was out of control.”
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