Welcome back to the SG 50. Here are our selections so far:

1. Tom Brady, QB Patriots
2. Peyton Manning, QB Colts
3. Ben Roethlisberger, QB Steelers
4. Tony Romo, QB Cowboys
5. Carson Palmer, QB Bengals

Quarterback is the most important position in the NFL, and in fact the most important position in pro sports. But now we’re going to have the first non-quarterback to come off the board. Can you guess who it is? I bet you can’t.

With the 6th pick in the SG 50, Justin Zeth selects Joe Thomas, OT, Cleveland Browns.

Here is recent Browns history, in terms of their ranking in Defense-Adjusted Value over Average (DVOA), in overall offense:

2003: 25th
2004: 27th
2005: 26th
2006: 31st
2007: 11th

In rushing:

2003: 25th
2004: 26th
2005: 28th
2006: 30th
2007: 10th

Passing is basically the same.

What happened in 2007? Joe Thomas joined the team. The presence of one dominating left offensive tackle transformed a terrible offense into a good one. And no, Derek Anderson didn’t have anything to do with it. Derek Anderson is a standard issue so-so NFL quarterback, really no different from Damon Huard or Quinn Gray or Vinny Testaverde or whoever. And Joe Thomas put him in the Pro Bowl.

Here, let’s look at Cleveland’s DVOA rankings along the offensive line particularly:

2003: 19th run blocking, 20th pass blocking
2004: 30th run blocking, 27th pass blocking
2005: 21st run blocking, 26th pass blocking
2006: 31st run blocking, 26th pass blocking
2007: 3rd run blocking, 5th pass blocking

Some of this drastic improvement is center Hank Fraley. But the vast majority of it is Joe Thomas. Thomas was a rookie last year and was the NFL’s most dominating lineman, bar none. He’s only 24 now and will be an absolute beast for the next five years, or more like the next ten if he isn’t derailed by injuries. Other than the quarterback, no player on the football field makes as much difference to a team’s fortunes as the left tackle. Replace a dud with a stud, and you transform a bad offense into a good one. It’s really that simple. And Joe Thomas is the best there is.

You know who was the best player on the awesome 1999 St. Louis Rams? Orlando Pace. My opinion is that Orlando Pace was among the half-dozen or so very greatest players in NFL history. Pace, more so than Kurt Warner or Torry Holt or Mike Martz even Marshall Faulk, made the Rams’ offense the dominant force it was. Consider that after Faulk and Warner were gone, the Rams continued to roll out a high powered offense with Marc Bulger and company… until the moment injuries ended Pace’s career. The Rams’ offense immediately went into the crapper and has yet to recover.

That’s the kind of impact player Joe Thomas is. Aside from the Big Three (Brady, Manning, Roethlisberger) and maybe Romo, there isn’t a more valuable player in the NFL.