CLEVELAND — Editor's note: the video in the player above is from a previous story.
Having spent 11 seasons as a member of the Cleveland Browns, there aren't many things that can catch Joe Thomas off guard in the NFL.
But when it comes to the Indianapolis Colts' hiring of Jeff Saturday as their interim head coach earlier this week, even the 10-time Pro Bowl left tackle found himself stunned.
"It was the most egregious thing I can ever remember happening in the NFL," Thomas said during an appearance on the NFL Network on Friday morning. "And I went 1-31 my last two years in the NFL."
Indianapolis' hiring of Saturday -- who played center for the franchise from 1999-2011 -- following the midseason firing of Frank Reich came as a shock to not just Thomas, but most people who observe the league. Laying claim to no previous NFL coaching experience, Saturday was working as an on-air NFL analyst for ESPN before accepting the role with his former team, who he has served as a consultant for.
"When you hire your drinking buddy to be the head coach of an NFL football team, it is one of the most disrespectful things I have ever seen in my entire life," said Thomas. "To the commitment, the lifestyle, and the experience that it takes to be an NFL coach -- any coach -- much less, the head coach of the Indianapolis football Colts.
"You have got to be kidding me that this is something that [Colts owner] Jim Irsay and Jeff Saturday, who is not blameless for accepting the job, could have talked and decided that this was the best thing for the Indianapolis Colts at this juncture of the season."
Thomas -- who will likely be inducted as a first-ballot selection into the Pro Football Hall of Fame next year -- proceeded to provide an example from his own career of the commitment required to be a head coach. Having lived next door to Rob Chudzinski during his lone season as Cleveland's head coach in 2013, the Wisconsin product noted that Chudzinski was only able to briefly see his kids twice a week during the season, and just once if the Browns were playing on the road.
As for Irsay, the Colts' owner defended the hiring of Saturday by saying that he liked that the 47-year-old didn't have any prior NFL coaching experience and that he believed that lack of experience would make him less scared. Thomas took issue with those comments, which included Irsay saying of current NFL coaches: “They’re afraid. They go to analytics and it gets difficult."
"If you didn't already insult every person that's worked their entire life to be a head coach in the NFL, then to go up there and say, 'I like that he doesn't have any experience because all of you NFL coaches are scared because you use logic and analytics to make decisions,'" Thomas said. "When I saw this, I thought it was a joke."