One of the Cleveland Browns’ best players in recent memory is calling it a career. All-Pro offensive lineman Joel Bitonio announced his retirement from the NFL on Tuesday after a 12-year career.
Bitonio — who spent all 12 of his NFL seasons with the Browns — made the announcement on the team’s website, saying he was pretty sure going into 2025 that it would be his last year in the NFL.
Advertisement
But Bitonio, 34, decided to really think over the decision in the offseason, and made sure to keep the Browns aware of his status as he contemplated his NFL future.
After the 2025 season came to an end, I was still pretty set on the fact that I was retiring, but I was still going to the facility to rehab. I was contemplating my decision, thinking about how I have been playing football for 23 years of my life – including 12 in the NFL. But there was never a need to rush the decision.
He added that the way the Browns closed out the season — with two wins and a walk-off field goal in Week 18 — gave him the finish he wanted.
Bitonio, originally a second-round pick by the Browns in the 2014 NFL Draft, established himself in the NFL immediately, starting 16 games as a rookie. He eventually developed into a Pro Bowler, making the team for seven straight years between 2018 and 2024. During that period, Bitonio was selected to the All-Pro team twice.
With the Browns, Bitonio didn’t do a whole lot of winning. It took until his seventh NFL season before Bitonio made his first playoff appearance. The Browns beat the division-rival Pittsburgh Steelers in the wild-card game that year, and that moment convinced Bitonio to sign with the Browns for the rest of his career.
When I watched Baker keep the football and run around the right end for the first down, clinching the playoffs and beating the Steelers, all I could think at first was that we had finally made it. I’d worked hard my whole career and hadn’t made the playoffs; but that moment – a team-oriented, surreal moment – made it worth it.
It was also a moment in my head that I thought, “Man, it’d be really special to finish my career here in Cleveland.”
Bitonio reached the playoffs just one other time in his career. During the 2023 NFL season, the Browns went 11-6, finishing second in the AFC North. The team, however, lost its first playoff game, falling to the Houston Texans in the wild-card round.
Advertisement
At that point, Bitonio was already signed to an extension that would keep him in Cleveland through the 2025 season. With that deal complete, Bitonio carefully thought over his his NFL future, and eventually decided it was the right time to walk away from the. game.
