When head coach Todd Monken confirmed four of his five starting offensive linemen ahead of this week’s mandatory full-squad minicamp, the Cleveland Browns’ new direction became painfully obvious. The one thing Spencer Fano, Elgton Jenkins, Zion Johnson, and Tytus Howard all have in common is that they weren’t with the Browns at this time last year.
In fact, Monken all but confirmed that the Browns will open Week 1 of the 2026 regular season with five new starters, as the two spots that remain open are center and right guard. Elgton Jenkins will most likely man the center or left guard spot. The competition at right guard appears to be down to Teven Jenkins and rookie Austin Barber, with the meat of the summer still ahead to sort that out.
It’s rare to see an NFL team clear out an entire group of veteran linemen, but that was the case for GM Andrew Berry and the Browns this offseason. They moved on from longtime starters Joel Bitonio, Wyatt Teller, Jack Conklin, and Ethan Pocic with conviction, to the point where it felt like an admission of poor foresight and roster planning from the team's side.
As for the players' side? We may have just gotten our answer on how they really feel about the situation.
Speaking with Houston Texans content creators Cody Stoots and Landry Locker after a recent practice, Teller felt last year’s offensive line group shouldered the majority of the blame for another losing season that ended with Kevin Stefanski getting fired.
“I’m not going to throw away six years that they treated me unbelievable for six months of indifference or whatever,” Teller said of his exit. “So I still have no ill will to anybody there. But, you know, it felt like they kind of blamed it on the offensive line — which, don’t get me wrong, did we play at our standards? We had the top-five offensive line for so long and then we kind of drop off. But there was so much issues. You can’t point at one thing.”
Texans LG Wyatt Teller on his last 2 years in Cleveland via @LandryLocker & @Cody_Stoots:
— Jacob (@JacobBarzilla) June 6, 2026
- He felt like he got somewhat complacent in Cleveland and the change “re-fired him up.”
- Felt like the offensive line was overly blamed for issues on the offense but helped motivate him… pic.twitter.com/SmTbARU7Tq
Wyatt Teller's comments may explain why Joel Bitonio remains unsigned
With all due respect to Teller, who’s entering his age-32 season, Browns fans could sense his time in Cleveland coming to an end in 2025. When he started rotating series with Teven Jenkins late in the year, the writing was on the wall.
Bitonio’s offseason has been much more mysterious. It started with an extended void date deadline on his contract, creating a runway for Bitonio and the Browns to hammer out an extension. That deadline surprisingly passed with zero new information, leaving Cleveland with $23.5 million in accelerated 2026 dead money while making their Ironman left guard since 2014 an unrestricted free agent. At the time of Teller’s comments, Bitonio remained unsigned.
The Browns’ 2025 offensive line group was ravaged by injuries, to the point where Bitonio was basically the only consistent starter from Week 1 through Week 18. He’s been contemplating retirement for a couple of years now.
Is it possible that Bitonio soured on giving Cleveland one more year after watching several longtime teammates battle through injuries and feel underappreciated by the front office? That feels impossible to rule out after Teller peeled back the curtain.
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