BEREA, Ohio — Browns offensive line coach Mike Bloomgren called this season the most challenging of his career on Friday.
One thing that hasn’t been challenging: coaching left guard Joel Bitonio.
“I wouldn’t trade him for anybody, that’s the bottom line,” Bloomgren said about the 12-year veteran. “Not just how I’ve talked about feeling about him in the meeting room and what he does for the Browns, but his play on Sundays has been awesome.”
Bloomgren almost didn’t get to coach Bitonio. The Browns hired Bloomgren last January, just as Bitonio, 34, was beginning to contemplate if he would return for another season.
He did come back and now he’s the last man standing on an offensive line that has seen nothing but upheaval due to injury and performance.
Left tackle Dawand Jones was lost for the season in Week 3 and right tackle Jack Conklin has been in and out of the lineup. He’ll miss another game Sunday against the Bills with a concussion.
Center Ethan Pocic ruptured his Achilles against the Titans.
Right guard Wyatt Teller, who is working back from a calf injury, was already rotating by series with Teven Jenkins before he left the 49ers game.
Bitonio’s presence, like it has for much of his career, has been a stabilizing presence on and off the field.
“I knew the gift that it would be (coaching him), but it has far exceeded that,” Bloomgren said. “It has been one of the joys of my coaching career and honors of my coaching career to get to work with Joel.”
The Browns selected Bitonio in the second round of the 2014 draft. After a Lisfranc injury sidelined him for much of the 2016 season, he didn’t miss an offensive snap from 2017 until 2023 and has missed just one game, in 2023, due to injury.
“He’s a rock that everybody leans on,” defensive end Myles Garrett said. “He’s just steady and consistent. He’s always the same.”
The last few seasons, Bitonio has battled through back and knee injuries to get on the field, sometimes sitting out full weeks of practice before showing up on Sunday to play at the same high level.
“His ability, because of his experience, to just jump in there on Sundays and do his job when he couldn’t walk on a Tuesday is crazy,” Bloomgren said. “I’m just blown away by him every week, the way that he fights for the Browns and his teammates.”
His presence off the field has been vital to a young team. Rookie running back Quinshon Judkins has his locker next to Bitonio and the two have grown close this season.
“Joel’s awesome,” Judkins said. “Ever since the first day I got here, he was one of the guys that I just jelled to naturally. I feel like, as a rookie, you more so try to find that guy in the locker room that you can relate to and show you to do things the right way. And Joel was that guy for me, just by his attitude and intentionality every day, things that he took into detail and just the way he shows you how to do the right things.”
Judkins sees the importance of having a veteran like Bitonio to lean on, even if he admits he was in middle school when Bitonio was drafted.
“He’s a guy, so it’s a lot that we can relate to,” Judkins said, “but I don’t have kids, I can’t talk about dropping them off at school, a lot of stuff like that.”
Like last season, Bitonio hasn’t engaged in questions about his future, saying it’s a decision he’ll make in the offseason.
He was close to Hall-of-Fame left tackle Joe Thomas, who played until his body finally let him down, suffering a torn triceps during the 2017 season. He retired the following offseason.
Thomas advised Bitonio last offseason not to hang it up until he’s absolutely sure he’s done.
“There’s no other place in the world where you can get the feeling and camaraderie of being on an NFL team,” Thomas told cleveland.com in February. “I told him to play as long as he possibly can.”
Many former NFL players say the thing they miss the most about playing is the locker room. It’s hard to replicate that in the school dropoff line every morning.
Bitonio’s level of play only makes the case even stronger for him to return.
“I don’t know what qualifies you for a Pro Bowl,” Bloomgren said, “but if he’s not it, they’re not seeing what we’re seeing.”
Bitonio has made seven Pro Bowls in a row. He’s also twice been a first-team All-Pro and second-team All-Pro three times since 2018.
“His level of play has been so consistent the whole time I’ve been with him, just everything he does and the way he moves and the intentionality he has and everything he does,” head coach Kevin Stefanski said. “It doesn’t happen by accident. To play this many years and to play at that high a level just doesn’t happen. I think it speaks to how he takes care of his body, I think it speaks to how he works during the week to get himself ready. Provides incredible value to this football team on and off the field.”
Once the Browns finish up this season, the real work will start on getting Bitonio back.
Has Bloomgren made his pitch?
“Not yet,” he said. “It’s coming.”
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