Joel Bitonio has officially decided to retire after 12 seasons in brown and orange, ending one of the most durable runs in Cleveland Browns history. The 35-year-old guard announced the decision after wearing No. 75 for every season of his NFL career, a stretch that began with the Browns drafting him and ended with him saying he had nothing left to prove.

Bitonio said he wanted to finish his career in Cleveland, and the feeling was never really in doubt. He signed three contracts with the Browns, played his rookie season by starting every game and taking every snap, and said there was never a point when he could picture himself in another uniform. That mattered to him even more after the Browns finally reached the playoffs in his seventh NFL season, when he said the first taste of postseason football was unlike anything he had ever experienced.

What made Bitonio different was not just the length of his career but the way he held up inside it. After missing some games because of injuries in his second and third seasons, he still earned an extension from Sashi Brown after his third year and then played seven full seasons after that. Beginning in 2017, he lined up next to J.C. Tretter and put together a run that defined his reputation: 6,481 consecutive offensive plays through the 2023 season and 102 consecutive starts.

He finished with 178 total starts, passing Joe Thomas for the most starts by a Browns player since 1999 during the 2024 season. Bitonio said Thomas set a standard of toughness and availability that stayed with him throughout his career, and he wanted younger players to watch him and think, “That’s how you play the game.” That is the standard he leaves behind now, and the Browns must decide whether to mark the end of his career with something more than a memory.