Browns Digest

Longtime Cleveland Browns Starter to Return for 2025 Season

Cleveland will have its longest-tenured active player back in brown and orange.
Gavin Dorsey|
Sep 15, 2024; Jacksonville, Florida, USA; Cleveland Browns guard Joel Bitonio (75) before the game against the Jacksonville Jaguars at EverBank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Morgan Tencza-Imagn Images
Sep 15, 2024; Jacksonville, Florida, USA; Cleveland Browns guard Joel Bitonio (75) before the game against the Jacksonville Jaguars at EverBank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Morgan Tencza-Imagn Images | Morgan Tencza-Imagn Images

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Cleveland Browns

After contemplating retirement, Joel Bitonio is back in Cleveland.

The Browns' 33-year-old guard announced Wednesday that he will be returning for his 12th NFL season in 2025. Since being drafted in the second round of the 2014 NFL Draft, Bitonio has played his entire career in Cleveland.

Bitonio needed just three words to make it official: Not Done Yet.

Bitonio started all but two games for Cleveland between 2017 and 2024, making the Pro Bowl in each of the last seven seasons. He was also named a second-team All-Pro from 2018 to 2020 and a first-team All-Pro from 2021 to 2022.

The lineman's seven Pro Bowl selections are the fourth-most in franchise history, trailing only Pro Football Hall of Famers Joe Thomas (10), Jim Brown (nine) and Lou Groza (nine).

On February 22, Bitonio told reporters that he was "undecided" on whether he would retire or not, but would make his decision ahead of free agency.

"I really want to decompress and feel it out and give myself a chance to rest the mind and the body and see where we're at," Bitonio said on January 5. "The burden of playing in this league is tough. As an offensive lineman, you have to be fully committed. You're playing 55 to 85 snaps every game. I think I got close to almost 1,200 snaps this year on offense. And that's a big commitment."

With the new league year beginning next week, Bitonio made it official. The longtime Browns guard has one year left on his contract and will have a $14.3 million cap hit this season.

Bitonio is the longest-tenured Brown on the team, having played in 161 games over the last 11 years. He has played in the 13th-most games by a Cleveland Brown ever, just six behind Thomas. If Bitonio plays in all 17 contests this season, he will rank ninth in franchise history in games played.

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Gavin Dorsey
GAVIN DORSEY

Gavin Dorsey is the Lead Writer for Northwestern Wildcats On SI and assists in covering a handful of other teams in the On SI network, including the Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Cavaliers, Cleveland Guardians, Houston Texans and Ohio State Buckeyes. Before joining On SI in February 2025, he wrote for the Star Tribune and Inside NU while broadcasting college sports for both radio and television. Dorsey is a graduate of Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism, where he also studied psychology. In his free time, he enjoys running and being outdoors. Dorsey is currently a freelance writer for the Associated Press, covering Chicago area sports teams.

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