BEREA, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – A day after signing right guard Wyatt Teller to an extension, the Browns and left guard Joel Bitonio put pen to paper on another.
Bitonio received a three-year extension, keeping him with the team through the 2025 season.
The new agreement is worth $48 million and likely will allow Bitonio to finish his career in Cleveland.
“It truly is an honor to hopefully finish my career here,” Bitonio said. “Hopefully it sets us up that way. I do not know anything else. I just know the Cleveland Brown way, and that is how I want to finish it.
“I think we do have something special building here, and hopefully, we can get some big wins before that comes up, though.”
Bitonio is the first player in the post 1999 expansion era to receive a third concurrent multiyear contract – rookie deal plus two extensions prior to a contract expiration – from the Browns.
“That is a pretty cool stat,” Bitonio said.
Work on the extension began this summer.
“After last season, we decided that one of our major football priorities would be to make Joel Bitonio a Brown for the rest of his career,” Browns executive vice president of football operations and general manager Andrew berry said in the team’s announcement Wednesday. “Joel is one of our most decorated players and is the ideal personification of our ‘Tough, Smart, Accountable’ mantra. We value Joel’s high-level performance, leadership, consistency and durability.
“We are all excited about this extension and hopeful that at the end of his career we will all be looking forward to celebrating Joel’s gold jacket fitting in Canton.”
The Browns selected Bitonio in the second round of the 2014 NFL Draft by former GM Ray Farmer, the same draft that saw him select first-round busts Justin Gilbert and Johnny Manziel.
Bitonio, 30, has made three consecutive Pro Bowls and been named second-team All Pro in the last three season as well.
“A lot of the good teams build through the draft, and they draft guys and you want to keep your core players,” Bitonio said. “When you get good players in this league, you want to keep them. That has been a thing you see with our last few extensions. I am proud to be a part of that group. Hopefully, we can re-sign a few more guys, and we can keep building this thing, keep drafting good players and really just set ourselves up so it is a thing that you go to the Browns, you play good for three or four years and you get a new contract and that is how it kind of works here where people want to come here, want to stay here and want to be a part of a winning organization.”
Bitonio has made a total of 104 regular season starts for the Browns, second-most behind future Hall of Famer Joe Thomas in the expansion era, and he hasn’t missed a snap since the start of the 2017 season.
“Joel Bitonio is everything you’d ever want in a football player,” head coach Kevin Stefanski said. “We always know exactly what we are going to get from Joel every rep, every practice, every game. His consistent effort, exceptional play, and team-first mentality make him a great teammate and truly a perfect example for every player that will ever wear brown and orange for the Cleveland Browns.
“Handing Joel a game ball in the locker room last year when we clinched a spot in playoffs will be a career highlight for me, Joel deserved that moment because of all the hard work and effort he puts into this organization. I’m so grateful for the opportunity to coach Joel. Congrats to him and his family, this contract is so well-deserved.”