Browns All-Pro left guard Joel Bitonio had to bow out of the Pro Bowl because of the high ankle sprain he suffered in the Jan. 13 wild-card playoff loss to the Texans. Wyatt Teller, the Browns’ starting right guard, has replaced him on the AFC roster.
Browns linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah is replacing injured Steelers linebacker T.J. Watt in the Pro Bowl set for Feb. 4 at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Fla.
This will be the first Pro Bowl appearance for JOK, a third-year linebacker from Notre Dame who led the Browns with 98 tackles. The 2023 season was his best by far. He credited his coaches and teammates for his success.
“I think it was a combination of a lot of things,” JOK said Jan. 14 as the players cleaned out their lockers in Berea. “First and foremost, you put it in a scheme that allows the player to get vertical. You have the players in front. I know the defensive line didn’t necessarily get any sacks or anything, but if you look, they did keep those double teams pretty well for us to get vertical. So I give credit to them.
“Coach (Jason) Tarver (linebackers coach) did a great job preparing us as linebackers to be able to do those things, specifically in those positions that I was in. So, it’s credit to the coaches, my teammates, but also a lot of the stuff that they keyed in on and some of the patience things that you can see from the position that I was in.”
Teller is headed to his third Pro Bowl. He was an alternate on the Pro Bowl team announced last month. Bitonio was voted to the Pro Bowl for a sixth straight time in 2023. He battled a knee injury, back injury, oblique injury and finger injury during the season. His ankle was sprained in the second quarter against the Texans when another player rolled on the back of his leg. He missed a few plays and then was back at left guard. The next day he wore a walking boot in the locker room.
“He’s unbelievable,” head coach Kevin Stefanski said Jan. 14 in his wrap-up news conference. “He’s unbelievable. He didn’t have to go back in that game with a high ankle sprain, and most people couldn’t and most people wouldn’t. And he was not going to let his guys down. He battled to the end.
“He’ll rest up and heal up, but he’s a quintessential teammate. That’s what we’re talking about. When you talk about the Cleveland Browns, you talk about guys that will do anything and everything they can for their teammate.”
Wide receiver Amari Cooper, defensive end Myles Garrett, tight end David Njoku and cornerback Denzel Ward from the Browns also made the Pro Bowl this season.
