Joe Thomas sounded like a man committed to remaining with the Cleveland Browns.
The nine-time Pro Bowler raved about the hiring of Hue Jackson as coach, calling it a coup. His words and tone Thursday night were directly opposite to the distraught tone he had the day of the 2015 season finale.
"When we were going through the coaching search, he was the No. 1 guy that I was hoping we'd hire," Thomas told reporters, including ESPN-Cleveland, at the Cleveland Home & Garden Show.
Asked if he was all-in with the newest new regime, Thomas said, "Yeah, I'm super excited about Hue."
The words matter because on Jan. 3 Thomas was not happy at the thought of another change. He left open the possibility that he might not want to stay with the Browns depending on the coaching hire.
Obviously Jackson fits what he wanted.
"For Jimmy (Haslam) to be able to land Hue I think is a huge coup," Thomas said.
He even said the Browns are in a great position at quarterback, because they can draft a quarterback high and let him learn under Josh McCown, whom he called a "tremendous mentor."
"I wish this was the position we were in my second or third year," said Thomas, ever the optimist.
The veteran left tackle also addressed Johnny Manziel, saying what has taken place since the final week of the season is "a sad ending to the story in Cleveland for Johnny."
Thomas said he likes Manziel and knows he has talent, but he knows Manziel is dealing with issues larger than football. One of them is a criminal investigation in Dallas into an assault complaint filed by his former girlfriend, Colleen Crowley.
"It's just a sad turn of events right now," he said. "It's hard to really say too much about allegations because plenty of innocent people get accused of things all the time. So you don't really know exactly what happened and obviously I wasn't there so I don't have a first-hand experience to go off of.
"Whatever he's dealing with I hope that he's able to get that under control and get things straightened out. Hopefully if football is important to him be able to put everything he has in his life into football. I hope that he has success with that.
"But obviously the other things that are going on in his life are more important right now. Because he needs to get those things solved and straightened out before he wants to make a comeback in football."