Why is former Browns starter J.C. Tretter still unsigned?

J.C. Tretter was a starter for 80 games in five seasons for the Cleveland Browns but remains unsigned, and Joel Bitonio thinks he knows why

For five seasons, J.C. Tretter was the man in the middle of the Cleveland Browns offensive line — and he did a great job holding things down as the starting center.

While he sat out just about every practice over the past couple of seasons, he never missed time due to injury. In fact, he had just one absence during his tenure, which was due to COVID.

Still, he was released in a cost-saving move as the Browns saved more than $8 million by moving on. Since leaving Cleveland, the interest in Tretter’s services has been minimal and former teammate Joel Bitonio believes it has something to do with his role as the president of the NFLPA.

"“When you have a guy that’s top five, top 10 at center in the league, and he’s not on a roster, you know, and he’s the NFLPA president and maybe some of the owners don’t appreciate what he brings to the table on certain topics when he’s trying to protect player safety and things of that nature, it seems a little suspicious to me.” — Bitonio"

Is Bitonio correct about Tretter’s lack of employment?

Bitonio is correct that some of the things Tretter fought hard for might have bothered the owners around the league. He’s been central in trying to limit padded practices in an effort to increase player safety while also helping the players get better protection during the start of the pandemic.

Even so, he’s a starting-caliber player and it seems that some team could use his services, especially if they lost their starting center. Right now, two teams fit that bill  — the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Tretter’s old team in Cleveland.

Why don’t the Browns give him a call?

Tampa has said they will look internally to fill the void left by Ryan Jansen, who they believe will be back at some point in 2022. As for the Browns, they lost Nick Harris for the year but seem content to use Ethan Pocic in his place.

Pocic does have 40 career starts and was signed as insurance if Harris wasn’t up to the task. But the presence of Pocic likely isn’t the only reason Tretter isn’t in Berea right now.

Another reason could be that Tretter urged the team to avoid OTAs last year. While these are voluntary and players cannot be punished for their absence, head coach Kevin Stefanski did make a point to say how much he injured things being “normal” this offseason with regular attendance at the voluntary camp.

Tretter’s position as the NFLPA president automatically pits him against some owners and Stefanski’s comments showed he too might be happy not to have the president on his club.

In the end, there’s probably a lot of truth to Bitonio’s comments, but Tretter is a smart man and knew this could happen when he took the job.