This morning, our own Casey Light wrote a column detailing why the Denver Broncos needed to pull the trigger and bring future Hall of Fame left tackle Joe Thomas into the building.

They reportedly had talks with the Browns about trading for him last season, but talks broke down before the trade deadline. Now, roughly a year later, the Browns have lowered their asking price (second-round pick), and teams’ ears are perking up.

On Monday, though, following Cleveland’s seventh consecutive loss to start the season, Browns head coach Hue Jackson came out with a definitive stance on the subject.

Does that close the door on a trade? No. Maybe there’s a little less room to squeeze through, but we’ve seen plenty of head coaches receive the dreaded “vote of confidence” before being asked to pack up their desk a week later; the same can happen to players.

You can even make the case that trading Thomas is the right thing for the Browns to do.

The 10-year veteran is arguably the greatest left tackle in NFL history, having made the Pro Bowl every year of his career and earning six First-Team All-Pro nods. And yet … he’s never played in a single playoff game. In fact, since being drafted third overall in the 2007 NFL Draft, the best record Thomas has been a part of came during his rookie year, when the Browns went 10-6 and missed the playoffs. Since then, he’s never been a part of a winning team and has only surpassed five wins once.

Now that he’s on another Browns team halfway towards a winless season, the most humane thing would be to let the all-time great experience his first taste of the postseason.

Though, it’s always seemed as if Thomas has been the one who didn’t want to leave Cleveland — what a guy, huh? — so we’ll see if he has veto power.