Browns star edge defender Myles Garrett said he will consider a trade request if, after speaking with Cleveland brass this offseason, it becomes apparent that the club is contemplating a rebuild. We subsequently heard that, since the Browns are not considering a rebuild and are eyeing a return to contention in 2025, the team is not overly concerned about Garrett’s comments.
Still, it is noteworthy that the Browns’ season has gone so poorly and created so much uncertainty that their best player – who is under contract through 2026 and who could land another lucrative extension this offseason – wants to hear about their future plans before making decisions about his own future. Likewise, the longest-tenured member of the Browns, left guard Joel Bitonio, would like to know where the team is headed before deciding whether to return for the final year of his own contract in 2025.
“It’s hard to go out there and have three wins right now,” Bitonio said (via Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com). “That’s been tough. It’s tough on your body. You just don’t feel as good on Monday when you lose a game. So it’s part of the process and you’d love to hear what the plan is going forward and kind of see where we’re at, see how much winning you can do.”
Bitonio, 33, was selected by the Browns in the second round of the 2014 draft, and aside from being a bastion of durability for most of his career, he has also been one of the league’s best interior blockers. From 2018-2023, he rattled off six consecutive Pro Bowl nods, a stretch that included First Team All-Pro acclaim in 2021 and 2022. Per Pro Football Focus’ metrics, however, his play has regressed a bit in 2024, as his 63.1 overall grade ranks 41st out of 74 qualified players and would represent the lowest mark of his career.
Given how good he has been throughout his lengthy Cleveland tenure, the Browns would surely love to have him back just the same, particularly since he is due just a $1.26MM base salary and $3MM roster bonus in 2025. But Bitonio has not yet made a decision one way or another.
“We’ll see how we’re doing in a couple weeks after the season,” he said. “It’s very hard to make a decision when you’re in the middle of it, you’re going through the daily grind. So I’m going to finish the year as strong as I can and see how we feel in a couple weeks and go from there.”
While Bitonio would like to know the team’s 2025 plans, both at quarterback and in general, Tony Grossi of TheLandOnDemand.com interpreted Bitonio’s comments to mean that the decorated lineman’s decision as to whether he will retire or return to play out the last year of his contract will mostly be dictated by his health.
“Truthfully, it’s mostly personal, just how my body feels going into another season,” Bitonio said, underscoring Grossi’s point. “The game, it’s an amazing game, blessed to play it, but it’s a stressful game, you put a lot on your body, how are you going to feel in 10 years or 15 years or 20 years?”
Whether or not he hangs up the cleats after the current season, Bitonio will not request a trade or release and will finish his career as a member of the Browns.
“For me personally, I don’t know what they’re thinking [with respect to quarterback plans], but I’m going to be a Cleveland Brown, I think, for my career,” he said. “So if I come back, whatever decision they make at quarterback is what decision they make. I’m not as young as Myles where you have some options other places. So for me it’s more going to be like how I feel personally, how my family feels and all that stuff.”
