Joe Thomas, the Pro Football Hall of Fame offensive tackle who spent his career protecting quarterbacks for the Cleveland Browns, is now running a 4,100-acre cattle operation in Wisconsin called Hall of Fame Farms.
Thomas set an NFL record by playing 10,363 consecutive snaps during his career. He bought his first 1,200 acres of land in 2012, while still playing for the Browns, starting with just five cows and a bull. The operation has grown into a large-scale cattle business with a growing focus on Wagyu beef.
“I grew up outside of Milwaukee, did not grow up on a farm, but always just had a passion for being outside,” Thomas said in a recent Fox News interview. “And then when I had the opportunity to go into the NFL, I said if there’s only one thing I get out of the NFL, I want to be able to buy my own piece of dirt. I just want to have my own little farm.”
Thomas said his commitment to farming deepened after he retired from the NFL in 2018. Freed from the demands of maintaining an offensive lineman’s frame, he dropped about 70 pounds and started paying closer attention to what he was eating.
“I wanted to try to focus on my health and be more intentional about eating real food,” Thomas said. “And, so, I lost about 70 pounds when I retired and I thought, ‘Hey, what a great way to also know where my food came from.'”
Washington Takes Notice
Thomas’ farm has caught the attention of federal officials. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins visited Hall of Fame Farms and pointed to Thomas as an example of someone who built an agricultural operation from scratch rather than buying his way into a hobby farm.
“He started with five mama cows and a bull,” Rollins said. “So, it’s not like he came in and wrote a giant check and became a hobby farmer. Like, he literally built this thing from nothing.”
Thomas stood alongside Rollins at the White House last week when President Donald Trump signed two executive orders aimed at supporting American ranchers.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation for comment.
Thomas hasn’t cut ties with football entirely—he continues to work in broadcasting. But as another NFL season kicks off, his focus has shifted hundreds of miles from any stadium, to the Wisconsin land he dreamed of owning since before he ever played a professional down.
