Joel Bitonio isn’t typically the kind of guy to get overly emotional. At least, the veteran offensive guard isn’t the kind of guy to let it show too often.
It’s why Bitonio’s teary-eyed response the day after the Browns’ 2025 season ended to a question about, if it was the end of his career, how he would reflect back on it was so startling on one hand. And, still, so telling on the other.
“With great pride,” Bitonio said Jan. 5, pausing to collect himself. “It’s hard to put into words. You know? I just tried to give it everything. It’s tough. You try and go out there and be the best version of yourself and do what you can to help the team win. And I tried to do that every day. That’s what I did.”
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The past tense in the final sentence of Bitonio’s comment also proved to be prophetic. After contemplating retirement following the 2024 season and doing it again for the five months since the 2025 season ended, the 12-year pro announced he was retiring from the game at a June 9 press conference.
The Browns have operated all offseason as if they wouldn’t have Bitonio, whose contract had expired in March. They added free-agent Zion Johnson from the Los Angeles Chargers, who is expected to fill the massive shoes left at left guard on what is expected to be a line with five new starters in 2026.
However, it also leaves a massive hole in the locker room where Bitonio’s presence loomed large as a leader to everyone. That includes one of the best players to ever play for the franchise
“He’s a rock that everybody leans on,” two-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett, who was traded to the Los Angeles Rams a week ago, said Dec. 19. “He’s just steady and consistent. He’s always the same. Love seeing that big, ol’ smile on him. But every time he’s in the game, you never see him put his head down. You always see him just attack every day like he attacks defensive players. He’s just a consistent character in the locker room and any time goes out there, you just feel a little bit more comfortable.”
Bitonio, 34, was the model of consistency for the Browns since they selected him in the second round (35th overall) of the 2014 draft out of the University of Nevada. He appeared in seven consecutive Pro Bowls from 2018-24, the fourth-longest streak by any Browns player, while being named to the Associated Press All-Pro first team twice, in 2021 and 2022, and to the second team three times.
It can be said Bitonio took the mantle of Browns ironman from his mentor and former teammate, Pro Football Hall of Fame left tackle Joe Thomas. The 2017 season in which Thomas — who played in 167 consecutive games — retired also was the start of Bitonio’s 102 consecutive regular-season games played that ended in Week 5 of the 2023 season.
Bitonio’s 178 career regular-season games ranks ninth all-time in Browns history, while it’s 11 more than Thomas’ 167 for most since 1999. The two lined up next to each other for 38 of those, a number made smaller by a 2015 ankle injury (six games missed) and a 2016 Lisfranc surgery (11 games missed).
Garrett wasn’t the only one of Bitonio’s now-former teammates to rave in the final weeks of the season about just how important the guard was to team. Defensive tackle Shelby Harris, after winning a Week 17 home game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, said, “Joel is the Browns. … And so it just doesn’t even sound right to say the Browns without Joel Bitonio. But he’s had a hell of a career.”
For Bitonio, it was about paying forward what he had learned from those veteran offensive linemen he played with as a rookie in 2014. It wasn’t just Thomas right next to him on the left side of the line, but Alex Mack, John Greco and Mitchell Schwartz who filled the other three spots.
“Yeah, it’s pretty cool,” Bitonio said Jan. 1. “I appreciate that that comes across. Since I’ve got here, learning from Joe and Alex and Grec and Schwartz, those guys set the standard before me and all I want to do is live up to a standard of I’m going to be here every day, I’m going to do my best, my personal best, and hopefully that helps the Cleveland Brows. And so to get that across and see that from some of your teammates is pretty special.”
The irony in Bitonio’s own ironman streak is that, while he has been able to play on two playoff teams, he did miss the only playoff win. A COVID diagnosis forced him to miss the January 2021 wild card win at the Pittsburgh Steelers, although he returned for the ensuing week’s divisional loss at the Kansas City Chiefs.
Those two playoff appearances — two more than Thomas had during his own 11-year career — certainly made the Browns more competitive for stretches. However, the way they followed up the second playoff trip in 2023 with an 8-26 run in 2024-25 added a layer to the decision Bitonio was forced to contemplate.
That also led to another coaching change, as Kevin Stefanski — the third full-time coach Bitonio played for — was fired and replaced by Todd Monken. There was also the departure of three of his offensive line teammates: Center Ethan Pocic (injured/free agent), right guard Wyatt Teller (signed with Houston Texans) and right tackle Jack Conklin (free agent).
“I mean, Jack, Wyatt, myself, Pocic,” Bitonio said Jan. 5. “I think Teven (Jenkins), I think most of the guys, Cam Robinson are all … There might be five or six guys under contract. So I think it’s definitely going to be a big transition for the offense, and all great things come to an end, right? We had a nice run with this group of guys and the people that did it and I’ll always appreciate going to war with them, but, yeah, I think there’s going to be a transition period for sure.”
That transition period includes replacing one of the most consistent interior offensive linemen in the league over the last nine seasons. Since 2017, Bitonio has played 100% of the offensive snaps in all but six regular-season games in which he’s appeared, including all but two in the last two seasons when the Browns were decimated by line injuries.
Bitonio played 95.9% in a Week 11 loss to the New Orleans Saints in 2024 and 95.5% in a Week 4 loss at the Detroit Lions in 2025. The Browns started 10 different offensive line combinations in 2025 after starting eight in 2024, and Bitonio was the only one to start all 34 of those games.
“Yeah, it’s been tough,” Bitonio said Dec. 11. “You never want to see guys get banged up and things happen like that. You fight all offseason to try and keep your body in as good shape as you can and almost survive a season and some of the stuff’s just you can’t fight it. But yeah, it is one of those things I try and be out for the guys and I know everybody’s trying at this point of the year. But it is crazy. If you told me at the beginning of the year, you’re going to be playing next to Cam Robinson and Wyp (Luke Wypler) and Tev, and KT (Leveston), or guys like that, you never expect it, and then you go out there and that’s what’s kinda happened towards the end here.”
Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Browns legend Joel Bitonio retires after 12–year career
Reporting by Chris Easterling, Akron Beacon Journal / Akron Beacon Journal
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By Chris Easterling, Akron Beacon Journal | USA TODAY Network
