Careers don’t last forever.
But legacies do.
To the absolute surprise of no one, guard Joel Bitonio had called it quits after 12 seasons, all with the Browns dating back to the 2014 NFL Draft when he was taken near the top of the second round, at No. 35 overall, out of Nevada. When you keep talking about retirement, as Bitonio did at the end of last season, then, in effect, you have already made your decision. You just haven’t announced it yet. And he finally did on Tuesday to allow the Browns to move forward with their preparations for the 2026 season.
It was a good decision by Bitonio. He has done everything he could for this franchise. The Browns are in yet another rebuild and need to develop a lot of younger players. By the time they’re ready to be a serious contender, he would be no longer be effective. As it stands now, he played at a high level right up to the end.
Now comes the legacy stuff. Those things outlast all of us. And in the case of Bitinio, it’s all good — even great. For as tremendous as he was as a player, he is an even better man. That can be a trite thing to say, and a lot of people do. However, for Bitonio, it is oh so true. In fact, never were truer words spoken for a pro athlete in Cleveland at any point in history.
My opinion of Browns players from the expansion era is well-documented. There have not been nearly enough good ones, which is why the team has struggled so mighty.
Bitonio is among the extremely small number of players in the last quarter-century who could phave also played in the original franchise’s 50-year life from 1946 through ‘95.
The others are not hard to figure out — left tackle Joe Thomas, kicker Phil Dawson, running back Nick Chubb and returner Joshua Cribbs. You could also list wide receiver Kevin Johnson. Yes, you could. And so I will. He had 310 receptions on some bad teams that had no other competent pass-catchers, for goodness sakes. You can’t fake that. You just can’t. And that’s coming from a traditionalist, especially when it comes to the Browns.
As part of that — and this is what stands out more than anything —Bitonio has proven himself to be one of the Browns all-time great guards, alongside the likes of Gene Hickerson, John Wooten, Jim Ray Smith and Abe Gibron.
And just as with those other players, Joel Bitonio’s legacy will stand the test of time.
Steve King
