Former Browns G Joel Bitonio has been one of the best offensive linemen of the last decade, earning seven Pro Bowls, two first-team All-Pro selections and three more second-team honors. Excelling that much on a team like Cleveland that’s largely been bad throughout his tenure also makes those honors even more impressive. 

Still, he probably faces an uphill battle for the Pro Football Hall of Fame one day precisely because of the Browns’ inability to seriously contend throughout his career. That makes the next step of his career potentially fascinating. Bitonio is a free agent for the first time after he and the Browns elected to let his current contract expire. He’s considering retirement after 12 years in the NFL, the second year in a row he’s openly acknowledged the possibility. 

But he could also keep playing, and if he does it’s unlikely to be with the Browns. Cleveland has left the door open to bringing Bitonio back, but the Browns have done little to inspire confidence that a 13th year wouldn’t be more of the same. 

This is Bitonio’s chance to play for a winning squad, something he’s experienced just twice during his tenure with the Browns. And a Super Bowl ring would fill in really the last glaring gap on his resume for the Hall. There are plenty of other considerations, like the health implications of going through the grind of another season and the time away from family. But for a competitor like Bitonio, the chance to cement his legacy is not a nothingburger.

Given how desperate teams usually are for quality offensive linemen, Bitonio should have options to play if he wants to. 

Bitonio, 34, is a former third-round pick of the Browns back in 2014. He signed a six-year, $51.2 million deal in 2017 that included $17.1 million guaranteed. 

Bitonio was set to make base salaries of $8 million and $8.5 million over the final two years of the agreement when he signed a three-year contract extension in 2021. The Browns restructured the deal back in 2023 to clear just under $7.9 million in cap space.

In 2024, Bitonio appeared in and started all 17 games for the Browns at left guard. Pro Football Focus had him graded as the No. 21 guard out of 79 qualifying players. 

 We have him included in our Top 100 Available NFL Free Agents list.  

Pittsburgh Steelers

The Steelers signed up for another ride — the last ride — on The Aaron Rodgers Experience in 2026. Pittsburgh’s roster is loaded with veterans, guys like OLB T.J. Watt, DT Cameron Heyward, S Jalen Ramsey and more on top of Rodgers, so it’s the very definition of a win-now squad. The front office won’t mortgage the future but expect them to be aggressive to try and maximize any Super Bowl chances the Steelers might have this year. 

That might require some attention to the offensive line. The tackle spots have dominated the conversation so far thanks to former first-round LT Broderick Jones’ neck injury that is still holding him back and the selection of first-round OT Max Iheanachor. But the Steelers lost stalwart G Isaac Seumalo in free agency, creating a void on the interior. So far the plan seems to be to shift Mason McCormick to the left side and let Spencer Anderson and third-rounder Gennings Dunker duke it out for the starting right guard spot. 

But if the switch gives McCormick some hiccups and neither Anderson nor Dunker asserts themselves as the starter, Bitonio would give the Steelers a potentially cleaner solution. He could step in at left guard, where he’s played for the vast bulk of his long and decorated career, allowing McCormick to stay at his natural position and giving the Steelers a rock-solid interior trio. 

Pittsburgh isn’t flush with cash right now, so the two sides would have to figure out a way to make the money work. However, the Steelers have multiple connections on staff to Bitonio that could help them craft a compelling recruiting pitch beyond the chance to block for Rodgers. Steelers OL coach James Campen was Bitonio’s position coach for a stint in Cleveland, and OC Brian Angelichio was also on the Browns’ staff during Bitonio’s first few seasons. That gives the Steelers tons of familiarity with Bitonio beyond just playing him twice a year for 14 seasons. 

Detroit Lions

If Bitonio wants to play for a legitimate Super Bowl contender in 2026 to try and put the finishing touches on a top-notch career, it will naturally winnow down his choices to just a handful of teams. Remove teams that are already set at guard, and it cuts the list down even further. The Lions are one of the remaining options that would check both boxes as a landing spot for Bitonio. 

Despite missing the playoffs last year, the Lions are widely expected to be competing for the NFC North title and pushing for a Super Bowl in 2026. The core of the roster remains in place, HC Dan Campbell shook up the coaching staff by adding OC Drew Petzing, and one of these years the team is going to catch a break when it comes to injuries. Figuring out how to patch leaks two or three years down the road is a big challenge, but for the time being, the Lions don’t have a lot of weaknesses on paper. 

The exception to that might be guard. At left guard, former 2024 sixth-rounder Christian Mahogany is the tentative incumbent, but the Lions will open things up for 2025 fifth-rounder Miles Frazier, journeyman Ben Bartch and probably others to try and unseat him. Usually in the NFL, the quantity of options is inversely related to the quality. 

Mahogany has flashed, particularly as a run blocker, but availability, consistency and pass protection remain issues for him at this stage. For a team like the Lions that might be starting to feel some urgency to maximize its current competitive window, it makes sense to try to eliminate a weak link before other teams exploit it during the regular season. 

Signing Bitonio wouldn’t just be pre-emptively plugging a hole — it would go a long way toward turning the interior offensive line back into a strength for the Lions. Hiring Petzing was a signal from Campbell that he wants to get back to the roots of what made his program successful before 2025’s setback, and the Lions attacked the offensive line further by signing C Cade Mays and using a first-rounder on RT Blake Miller. A front five of Penei Sewell, Bitonio, Mays, Tate Ratledge and Miller has the potential to be the engine of the team’s success like it was a few years back. 

It should be pretty easy to sell Bitonio on that opportunity. He knows Petzing from his time as an assistant on the Browns’ staff, and Detroit still has a decent chunk of cap space available this year to make a move. From the culture-obsessed Lions’ perspective, Bitonio fits everything about what they want from their players. 

Cincinnati Bengals

For now, the Bengals seem content with the duo of veteran Dalton Risner and last year’s third-rounder Dylan Fairchild. Should there be an injury or some other development that makes it clear that’s not sufficient to help protect QB Joe Burrow, however, the Bengals could kick some tires on other options. 

Bitonio is far and away the best guard potentially available. There’s an argument that the Bengals should pursue him anyway as an upgrade over either Fairchild or Risner. From his point of view, Cincinnati should be extra compelling as well. Not only would the Bengals give Bitonio a chance to play for a contender and the best quarterback he’s ever blocked for (easily), if he signed in Cincinnati, he could stay in Ohio and probably wouldn’t even have to move his family. The presence of OL coach Scott Peters, who was an assistant OL coach for the Browns at one point and worked directly with Bitonio, is another link between the two sides. 

San Francisco 49ers

One of the top priorities in training camp for the 49ers will be finding a starting left guard. Connor Colby, a seventh-round pick last year, seems like the heavy favorite per most beat reporters, but he’ll be challenged by Robert Jones, Brett Toth and fourth-round rookie Carver Willis. Once again, the quantity of options is a giveaway regarding the quality. 

The 49ers tend to skew cheap on the offensive line to direct resources to other spots on the roster. Outside of trading for LT Trent Williams and extending him a couple of times (and even then they got him on an injury discount and have resisted really pushing the market on his subsequent deals), San Francisco doesn’t go big-game hunting for offensive linemen. So while it’s natural to connect them to Bitonio as a proven high-end contributor at a position of need, history says this match isn’t likely. I’d also be curious about how willing Bitonio would be to uproot things and move all the way out to the West Coast after a decade and a half in Cleveland. 

Still. 

You can’t get around the need at guard for the 49ers, and for Bitonio San Francisco would check a major box as far as playing for a contending team. He’d also be a perfect fit in HC Kyle Shanahan’s system. The chances of this lining up aren’t high, but they’re not zero either.