With injuries piling up on the offensive line, Joel Bitonio's steady presence has been pivotal in lost Cleveland Browns season
Injuries are an unavoidable reality of the NFL. Every team deals with them and the best teams find ways to overcome them to still win.
For the Cleveland Browns, though, endless injuries along the offensive line have essentially become part of their makeup. Entering Week 16, the Browns have trotted out nine different starting combinations up front on offense. It could become 10 if Wyatt Teller, who is questionable with a calf injury, returns to the starting lineup this weekend.
It's been an unrelenting game of musical chairs, so much so that offensive line coach Mike Bloomgren couldn't lie about just how difficult this season has been.
"This has been the most challenging year of my coaching career, quite frankly," Bloomgren admitted on Friday. "Has not been easy. A lot of change going on around the room."
Through all of the uncertainty, though, there's one silver lining for Bloomgren, in a frustrating year. His admiration for all his players is through the roof.
These guys do step up, and they keep fighting and they over-communicate at the line of scrimmage for the new people," he explained. "And they try to do everything to get everyone on the same page. I'm so thankful for the guys in the room and the character of the room."
When the 2025 season began, Cleveland trotted out a starting five up front that featured Dawand Jones at left tackle, Joel Bitonio at left guard, Ethan Pocic at center, Wyatt Teller at right guard and Jack Conklin at right tackle. At this stage of the season, four of the five original starters have missed time due to injuries. Two of them, Jones and Pocic, are currently shelved for the rest of the season because of more severe injuries.
The only constant has been Bitonio, who has helped Bloomgren and the entire room in more than he may even know.
"I don't think I can put into words the impact that Joel Bitonio has on the room," said Bloomgren. "He is a player-coach, he's doing so many roles. He is so good, and that room collectively grows these young players."
Bloomgren played a major role in helping convince Bitonio not to retire and return to Cleveland for a 12th season earlier this year. He joked that he's preparing to do it again in three short weeks. The 34-year-old is set to be a free agent this offseason and will reach a natural point to walk away if he so chooses.
However, his play remains solid and his impact, as Bloomgren highlighted, continues to be invaluable, not just in the o-line room, but to teammates across the locker room.
"Joel's awesome," rookie RB Quinshon Judkins stated. "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."
No one has been around Bitonio more than head coach Kevin Stefanski. He's said all there is to say about the Browns' longest tenured player, but remains in awe of his consistency.
"Not much left to say about Joel and what he’s doing," Stefanski said. "And 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 – it doesn’t happen by accident. To play this many years and to play at that high a level just doesn’t happen."
Even during some of the franchise's worst moments, Bitonio has served as a bright light. If the Browns final three games are Bitonio's last in the NFL, he'll depart having left an immeasurable impact on so many within the organization, even those who just got here.