Joel Bitonio Retires After 12 Seasons With the Browns

joel bitonio decided to retire after 12 seasons with the Cleveland Browns, ending a run that never took him out of brown and orange. He said he wanted to finish his career in Cleveland, and that there was never a point where he could picture another uniform.

Bitonio and the Browns

Bitonio said he had been drafted and signed three contracts with the Browns. After 12 seasons wearing No. 75, he closed the book on the team that gave him his only NFL home.

He also made the choice after a career built on durability. In his rookie season, he started every game and played every snap. Injuries slowed him in his second and third years, but Sashi Brown extended him after that third year and Bitonio said he played seven full seasons after the extension.

J.C. Tretter and the streak

The longest stretch came beginning in 2017, when he lined up next to J.C. Tretter and went on to play 6,481 consecutive offensive plays through the 2023 season. That run matched the role he wanted to keep holding down for Cleveland’s front line.

Bitonio finished with 102 consecutive starts and 178 total starts. During this season, he passed Joe Thomas for the most starts since 1999, a mark that put his name at the top of a category tied to Browns durability rather than flash.

Joe Thomas and the finish

His first playoff experience came in his seventh NFL season after a win over the Steelers, when he said, "Man, it'd be really special to finish my career here in Cleveland." After deciding to retire, he put the end of the job plainly: "Now that job is finished."

For the Browns, the move closes out one of the steadiest runs by an offensive lineman in franchise history. Bitonio said, "I have to finish this thing. I started, and I want to be out there for my guys," and that is how his career ended — with the last snap already long behind him.