Left guard Joel Bitonio could very well open the 2020 season sandwiched between two rookie starters when the Browns travel to Baltimore in a little over a week. It’s a big responsibility for Bitonio, the greybeard of the Browns team and one of the steadiest performers in the NFL at his position.
Bitonio talked about how he’s hopeful that regular starting center JC Tretter can return in time to face the Ravens. He noted that he’s confident in Tretter being mentally prepared to return to action from his knee injury.
“Mentally he’s been in every meeting,’’ Bitonio said during his Zoom teleconference with reporters on Tuesday. “He’s watching practice on his iPad, and he’s getting focused and ready to roll. I know mentally he’s going to be ready to play, if he’s ready to go physically. That’s not going to be an obstacle.
He’s always been a smart guy, and he knows where we are play-by-play and issue-by-issue. I still talk to him in the meetings and make sure I’m like ‘Hey, this is what we are seeing out there. What would you call in these situations and those type of situations?’”
There is a difference between mental reps and physically going up against the likes of Sheldon Richardson and Larry Ogunjobi in practices, however.
“ I know he has been pushing himself. He’s here every day just trying to get back and get ready for Week 1,” Bitonio concluded on Tretter.
The veteran left guard seems encouraged by what he’s seen from rookie Nick Harris, who has been the first-team center while Tretter has been out for the entire training camp.
“From Nick’s perspective, he is playing center so there is a lot on his plate making calls and things of that nature. He has done a really good job of picking that up. He is an athletic guy. He can move, he is quick and he gets to his position really well. Those are things that are really big positive signs.”