Will left tackle Joe Thomas ever play again for the Browns? Or will he retire?

That remains to be seen. No one else seems to know, and he isn’t saying.

People have been wondering about that for the last several seasons, and now that he’s finally out – for the season – with an arm injury that ended his off-the-charts ironman streak, that question has been asked a whole heckuva lot more.

The Browns just gave Thomas a hefty pay raise. Was it to try to induce him to return? Probably. But nobody can fault the Browns for that. Wouldn’t you try to get a sure-fire Pro Football Hall of Famer to come back and keep playing?

Thomas addressed that question on Thursday when he was made available to media. So, does the money make him feel better about remaining a Brown?

“I don’t know,” he said. “In the end, it will be a decision based on, ‘Am I feeling healthy? Do I still love the game, and am I still playing well enough that somebody wants me?’

“I think I am playing well enough so that is not an issue. And I feel like I still love it, so I think it is just going to come down to, ‘Does my body feel like it is OK to play another season going into my 12th year?’ I think that is a decision that I will tackle after the season is over in January and February because I think if you try to make a big decision like that when you are in the middle of, or right after a surgery in the middle of a rehab process, I don’t think you are in a clear-minded position to make such a large decision.

“Right in the middle of the season, I also think it is not fair to this team to have to answer those questions or even talk about it or make any news because as an injured player, I think it is important not to be a distraction to your team one way or the other. For me, I think it is easy to just kind of push that decision off until I am a little further down in the rehab process and until after the season. Then I think I have had time to sort of digest everything and sort of look at what the future holds.”