One of the most important decisions of the Cleveland Browns’ offseason was at least partially answered on Wednesday, but it left fans with a lot more questions than the answers they were hoping for.
According to Daniel Oyefusi of ESPN, Joel Bitonio’s contract officially voided at the official start of the new league year, which arrived on Wednesday evening. That means Bitonio, Cleveland's longtime left guard who’s been contemplating retirement, is now officially an unrestricted free agent.
It also means that the four void years that were added to Bitonio’s contract for salary cap purposes automatically accelerate to Cleveland's 2026 cap number, resulting in a combined charge of $23.5 million.
Joel Bitonio's contract officially voided, leaving $23.5 million in dead cap for the Browns in 2026.
— Daniel Oyefusi (@DanielOyefusi) March 11, 2026
Bitonio has been mulling retirement, and Cleveland had pushed the void date back to give him time. The Browns have been active in adding OL in free agency, including IOL Zion…
The Browns entered Wednesday with about $8.6 million in cap space, according to Over the Cap, but fans shouldn’t be losing any sleep over that. General manager Andrew Berry has been planning accordingly. The team covered its bases by signing a seasoned left guard in Zion Johnson in free agency — creatively structuring his three-year contract for maximum cap relief — before doubling down with former Packers veteran Elgton Jenkins, who has experience at both guard and center.
Berry still has plenty of levers he can pull to sort out the cap situation. If anything, a larger restructure with Denzel Ward’s contract could be coming in short order.
As longtime Browns reporter Mary Kay Cabot detailed on Wednesday, the team has been willing to give Bitonio all the time and space he needs to make a decision. She cited a team source who said an official decision might not come for another month.
In the interim, the team has no choice but to forge forward. Berry will have to deal with Bitonio's unavoidable dead-cap charge (along with several others) while preparing like their Ironman left guard won’t be returning.
The Browns’ Joel Bitonio situation just took a confusing turn
To be clear, Bitonio’s contract voiding doesn’t necessarily mean he won't return to the Browns in 2026. The two sides would just have to hammer out a new deal. The dead-cap charges from his previous contract are just the cost of Cleveland’s cash-over-cap way of doing business. The team’s essentially paying for kicking the can down the road with salary conversions to lower Bitonio's cap numbers in each of the last three seasons.
The writing does appear to be on the wall, though. Cleveland didn’t only cover its bases at the guard position this week, it added two experienced veterans with extensive experience playing on the left side. The Browns could feasibly welcome Bitonio back later in the offseason, but with Howard expected to remain at right tackle, they’d be looking at either moving Johnson or Elgton Jenkins to right guard in the scenario.
This is the NFL, and as the Baltimore Ravens proved on Tuesday night, anything is possible. Even if it doesn’t feel like the Browns have a spot for Bitonio, they could easily find a solution for one of the best players in franchise history.
There’s a real chance, too, that Bitonio decides to bid Cleveland and the Dawg Pound faithful farewell, and at least explores his options in free agency before making a final call on his playing career. Contending teams would likely jump at the chance to bring in a player of his caliber on a one-year deal.
In the end, we’re kind of right back to where we started. Bitonio’s future remains a mystery, while the Browns are awkwardly left taking on a $23.5 million cap hit for their role in what's become a confusing situation that's impossible to follow.