After 12 years in Cleveland, All-Pro guard Joel Bitonio has called it a career. The Browns announced Bitonio's retirement from the NFL on Tuesday.
Conversations lingered throughout the offseason about whether the veteran guard would sign with another team or call it a career. After the Browns voided his contract and made him an unrestricted free agent in March, speculation ramped up on whether the Chargers could be a team that made him an offer.
Joel Bitonio will not be taking his talents over to The Bolt with the Chargers this season.
In a sense, the way the draft went for the Chargers probably did reduce the chances of signing a true veteran guard like Bitonio. They took Jake Slaughter in the second round and they clearly want to force-feed him as many guard reps as possible. In addition to that, the team drafted two more guards and three more offensive linemen overall after Slaughter's selection with Travis Burke, Alex Harkey, and Logan Taylor.
Simply put, they invested in a decent amount of athleticism at the guard spot via the draft and free agency. Bitonio would've been a nice proven starter, but it's not hard to imagine that the Chargers probably wanted to go a bit more explosive athletically along the offensive line for Mike McDaniel's scheme. We'll probably never know if they officially did reach out to Bitonio or not, but there's also the question of how much he would've wanted financially to leave Cleveland and continue his career.
The Chargers opted to not pursue many new veterans in the free agency pool other than reuniting Cole Strange with Mike McDaniel for a relatively low price compared to the market. The left guard spot is likely now down to three candidates on the roster: Kayode Awosika, Trevor Penning, and Jake Slaughter.
Kevin Zeitler, James Daniels, and other veteran options do remain on the free agent market. But none of the remaining potential signings carry the same potential starter weight relative to someone like Bitonio. If the Chargers don't like what they're seeing by training camp, they still could test the free agent or trade markets at guard. But for the time being, the Chargers seem to be relatively comfortable with who they have in the offensive line room.
Bitonio would've been a true plug-and-play offensive line option, but his decision to retire likely confirms that the Chargers will look internally for their starter at left guard.
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