Among the many contributions Joel Bitonio made during his Browns career was compelling close friend, Pro Football Hall of Famer and fellow Cleveland legend Joe Thomas to purchase a magnetic wand.. Early in Bitonio’s days as an NFL offensive lineman and about a decade before he announced his retirement on June 9, he attended a dinner hosted by Thomas and discovered something surprising when he took a bite of duck Thomas had hunted.. Advertisement. Advertisement. Advertisement. “It was really good, except I did find a bullet in mine, which kind of scared me a little bit. But it was really good,” Bitonio said with a smile in 2022.. Browns column: As Joel Bitonio retires, franchise should offer him special role | Opinion. 1 / 28. Cleveland Browns wide receiver Isaiah Bond, right, participates in drills during the second day of the team’s mandatory minicamp at CrossCountry Mortgage Campus, June 10, 2026, in Berea, Ohio.. (Jeff Lange, Akron Beacon Journal). Thomas told his side of the story as he reflected on Bitonio’s career during a recent phone interview with the Beacon Journal.. “I like to take guys that maybe didn’t grow up hunting, specifically guys from California, city kids, and take them out there to the duck marsh and introduce them to something that’s really important to me, that I love, and show them that side of being an outdoorsman and the great things that you can do throughout the state of Ohio,” Thomas said. “Joel was one of those guys that I got to take hunting, and we always had a great time.. Advertisement. Advertisement. Advertisement. “Of course, you get lucky, and you get a chance to eat some of the fruits of your labor and the successes that you have. When you’re shotgun hunting for turkeys or ducks, occasionally there’s going to be a couple pellets that you might not notice that get stuck in the meat that you’re not able to cut around and you don’t realize they’re there. Unfortunately for my guy Joel, he got the s— end of that stick. And since then, I’ve bought a magnetic wand that I can run over all of my game meat to make sure that there’s no lead in there, so we’re not breaking anybody’s teeth.”. Cleveland Browns guard Joel Bitonio (75) and tackle Joe Thomas (73) block St. Louis Rams defensive end Robert Quinn (94) on Aug. 23, 2014, in Cleveland.. Fortunately for Bitonio, no teeth were harmed in the making of this tale, and he received much more from Thomas over the years than a memorable dining experience.. From 2007-17, Thomas dominated as a left tackle on the field and served as a de facto Browns spokesperson off the field. When Thomas retired, he passed the torch to Bitonio, whose stellar career as a left guard spanned 2014-25.. Advertisement. Advertisement. Advertisement. “He was a great leader and a great spokesperson,” Bitonio said during his retirement news conference. “I think it helped me because I saw him do it at such a high level that I was like, ‘All right. I’ve got to step into those [shoes].’ It helped and kind of showed a way of how, even if the season doesn’t go great, you can still be a professional and handle your job.”. Browns column: Shedeur Sanders is people’s champ as Cleveland’s QB duel drags on | Opinion. Thomas, 41, said watching Bitonio, 34, embrace the role was akin to a grandparent observing his or her child raise kids.. “Knowing that we weren’t going to be winning any championships those last couple years [of my career], my mission and my purpose was like, ‘Hey, what type of an impact can I have on these guys that are here currently? Can I make an impact right now, build a foundation, build leadership qualities and skills that I want to see continue on after I’m done and gone?’” Thomas said. “… It feels like maybe those last couple seasons that I had in Cleveland that were not good record-wise still had the impact that I felt like I had control over to try to make a difference for an organization and a city beyond just my time wearing an orange helmet and a brown jersey.”. Advertisement. Advertisement. Advertisement. The local chapter of the Pro Football Writers of America voted Bitonio the winner of the PFWA Dino Lucarelli “Good Guy Award” six times. Thomas received the honor twice. Each year, it’s given to a player for his cooperation with media and for the way he comports himself in the community and with his teammates.. Cleveland Browns guard Joel Bitonio (75) and tackle Joe Thomas (73) talk against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the first quarter at Raymond James Stadium.. Like Thomas, Bitonio retired as a wire-to-wire Browns player.. Thomas played 167 games in 11 seasons. Bitonio logged 178 games, plus two more in the playoffs, in 12 seasons.. “It’s just such an impressive feather in his cap that he was able to play such a long and proud, amazing career with one team,” Thomas said. “And forever he’ll be linked with the Cleveland Browns, with that orange helmet, and we’ll always be able to know that Joel Bitonio was one of ours.. Advertisement. Advertisement. Advertisement. “It’ll link him with the Cleveland fan base and become even more special the longer it is from his time playing here because there’s just fewer and fewer guys that ever get to say that, one, they had the opportunity and, two, they had the loyalty to stay with one franchise and one city for their entire career.”. Cleveland Browns tackle Joe Thomas (73) and Cleveland Browns guard Joel Bitonio (75) during the second half at FirstEnergy Stadium, the Atlanta Falcons defeated the Cleveland Browns 24-13.. In Bitonio’s 12 NFL seasons, he made the Pro Bowl seven times (2018-24), trailing only Thomas (10), Jim Brown (nine) and Lou Groza (nine) for the most in Browns history. Thomas, Brown and Groza are enshrined in the Hall of Fame.. Thomas became a first-ballot Hall of Famer in 2023. Thomas earned Associated Press All-Pro honors eight times, including six first-team selections (2009-11 and 2013-15).. Advertisement. Advertisement. Advertisement. Bitonio was voted first-team All-Pro twice (2021-22) and second-team All-Pro three times (2018-20).. For years, Thomas has said Bitonio is worthy of enshrinement in Canton.. “I think he has a really great case,” Thomas said. “I think the challenge is not winning a Super Bowl, not ever playing for a great quarterback. He didn’t often get the postseason accolades he deserved, especially earlier on. So he doesn’t have 10 Pro Bowls, 11 Pro Bowls, eight All-Pros, like some of those other guards that are going to be up for the Hall of Fame.. “But I think that the Hall of Fame process seems more holistic now and more willing to look beyond just those typical apples-to-apples comparisons on the postseason awards for guards and for other offensive linemen. And they’re looking more now towards, hey, what were his PFF [Pro Football Focus] grades? Other defensive linemen, offensive linemen of his generation, what would they say about him? How does he stack up to those guys, not just from a statistical standpoint, but let’s actually talk to the people. Let’s roll the tape. Let’s watch him. Let’s figure out how good was this guy.. Advertisement. Advertisement. Advertisement. “I think as people are doing that more and more and as his case gets up there, and I’ll certainly be banging the table for him, I think it gets really strong. I think he has a strong chance of being able to get in because he truly was one of the best guards of his generation, certainly one of the best Cleveland Browns of all time, and he absolutely deserves to wear a gold jacket.”. Cleveland Browns tackle Joe Thomas (73) Cleveland Browns guard Joel Bitonio (75) at FirstEnergy Stadium.. Thomas was preparing for his eighth NFL season when the Browns drafted Bitonio in the second round (No. 35 overall) out of the University of Nevada in 2014. As soon as they practiced together, Thomas said he realized Bitonio was a “big, fast, strong, incredible athlete” with a bright future.. Advertisement. Advertisement. Advertisement. “Watching him run around the corner on guard-pull plays and seeing him smash safeties and find cornerbacks in space, you knew he was a great athlete, and he was going to find his way on the field and be great at something,” Thomas said. “But I think the more I got a chance to be around him and sit next to him in meetings and talk with him and impart any wisdom that I could from my experience onto him, I realized pretty quickly that as good as he was physically, his intangibles were even better.. “The leadership he showed, the toughness, the attention to detail, the desire to get better, the growth mindset, he had all the hallmarks of greatness. All the things that make the great ones great are not just physical abilities. It’s also that mental ability, that fortitude and toughness to be able to persevere through challenging times to find a way to get better in spite of maybe being on a team during a lost season.”. Bitonio played left tackle at Nevada before the Browns moved him to left guard. However, in a few emergency situations after Thomas retired, Bitonio played left tackle for the Browns and more than held his own.. “I’m sure Joel hated playing left tackle because you’re on an island, you’re doing something totally different, your technique is different, you don’t have the practice behind it, so your confidence is going to be a little lower going into the game,” Thomas said. “But I think secretly he liked it because he got a chance to show off that he is a great athlete.. Advertisement. Advertisement. Advertisement. “Guards are often given a lot of crap for not being great athletes. That’s why they get stuck inside as a guard. But I know deep down inside, if you gave Joel some truth serum, he would love to tell you that secretly he was pretty happy to show everybody that he’s versatile and that he is that great athlete that used to be a standout basketball star on the hardwoods out in California.”. Bitonio’s background includes time as a high school basketball player. It also includes lessons passed down by his late father, Mike Bitonio, a bare-knuckle brawler during the early days of mixed martial arts. In August 2010, Mike Bitonio died of a heart attack at the age of 45.. Thomas recalls learning about Bitonio’s cage-fighter dad for the first time.. Advertisement. Advertisement. Advertisement. “It was that light-bulb moment for me,” Thomas said. “Of course, Joel is going to be one of the toughest guys I’ve ever been around. Of course, he’s going to be unbreakable. He learned that from his dad. It was in his DNA.. “It was just really cool always being able to sit down with Joel and listen to him tell stories about his dad and the things that he learned from him and the things that he took from his dad’s career as a bare-knuckle fighter and applied them to his own game and his own approach to the sport.”. Mike Bitonio received a heartfelt shout-out during his son’s retirement speech at Browns headquarters.. “I learned self-belief and hard work from my dad, who never got to see me play a snap in college or the NFL but was with me every step of the way,” Bitonio said. “He believed in me and my dreams before I knew what they were. He would tell me, ‘Why not you?’ whenever I brought up how hard it was to make it in college or the NFL. So, if he’s listening right now, I just wanted to let him know we made it.”. Advertisement. Advertisement. Advertisement. Bitonio’s supporters, including Thomas, couldn’t be more proud.. Nate Ulrich is the sports columnist of the Akron Beacon Journal and a sports features writer. Nate can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com. On Twitter: @ByNateUlrich.. This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Joe Thomas marvels at fellow Browns great Joel Bitonio upon retirement