The Cleveland Browns are in a tough spot.
Their franchise is struggling, they can't solve the quarterback position and it's not immediately clear when things will get better.
That certainly could be tough on veterans who know they only have so much football left to be played.
Star left guard Joel Bitonio fits that category. He wasn't sure he'd be back for his 12th season with the Browns.
“It was tough. I did give consideration to retiring,” Bitonio told Dawgs By Nature. “I was frustrated. Now, I don’t know if I would have the same conversation if we had gone to the playoffs again, and maybe were a 10-win team. But after having a successful year, followed by losing 14 was difficult. I questioned why I was playing this game. What am I doing here? The fact that we had a terrible season was not what I was expecting. I sat back and waited for a little bit. I talked to [head coach Kevin] Stefanski, then they brought in Bloomgren and advanced [offensive coordinator] Tommy Rees. He said they were going to draft a quarterback and make all these moves. I wanted to go out on a higher note than what we experienced last year.”
Bitonio will turn 34 in October. He was a second-round pick of the Browns in 2014 out of Nevada.
It could be another rough year in Cleveland if they don't land on the right QB.
It could wind up feeling like a "There's always next year" kind of situation, but would that be true for Bitonio? The 6-foot-4, 320-pound, 7-time Pro Bowler might be approaching the end regardless.
For his sake, hopefully the Browns figure it out enough to send him out on a better note.
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