CLEVELAND, Ohio — Browns left guard Joel Bitonio will have a little longer to make his decision about returning for the 2026 season or retiring.
The Browns and their longest-tenured player pushed the void date of his contract to the start of the new league year on March 11, a league source confirmed for cleveland.com.
His contract was set to void Feb. 16.
Bitonio just completed his 12th season with the Browns after contemplating retirement last offseason. He appeared in all 17 games for the second consecutive season and the 34-year-old certainly looked like he still had more football left in him.
Bitonio said repeatedly during the season that the No. 1 factor in his decision would be how his body felt and family considerations. He added on locker cleanout day after the Browns fired head coach Kevin Stefanski that the next coach would likely play a factor in his decision, too.
“I’ve kind of been saying my body, how I feel is going to be the No. 1 decision, but you’ve got to know who you’re playing for and the situation that you’re going to step into,” he said. “So it’s definitely a factor.”
The Browns and new head coach Todd Monken are facing significant turnover on their offensive line. Four of the five Week 1 starters, Bitonio, right guard Wyatt Teller, center Ethan Pocic and right tackle Jack Conklin, are free agents. The lone returner, tackle Dawand Jones, suffered a season-ending injury for the third consecutive season.
If the Browns youth movement on offense includes most of the offensive line, Monken and new offensive line coach George Warhop would almost certainly welcome a veteran like Bitonio back to usher the team into its next phase of play up front.
Warhop’s presence could potentially sway Bitonio to return, too. The veteran offensive line coach is in his second stint with the Browns and coached Hall of Famer Joe Thomas from 2009 through 2013. Thomas is a close friend of Bitonio’s and gave him advice on his decision last year.
The Browns selected Bitonio in the second round of the 2014 draft and he has appeared in 178 regular season games. He didn’t miss a regular season snap due to injury from 2017 through Week 6 of the 2023 season.
The seven-time Pro Bowler is ninth all-time in franchise history in games played and has played more games than any Browns player since the team returned in 1999, passing Thomas last season.
Bitonio admitted prior to the team’s home finale against Pittsburgh that he gave some thought to whether he had played his final game in Cleveland. He teared up the day after the season when he was asked how he would look back on his career.
“With great pride,” he said. “It’s hard to put into words. 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.”
Now he’ll take a few more weeks to decide if he has more to give.
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