Exclusive: Rams Star Andrew Whitworth Reflects on Time in Cincinnati Ahead of Super Bowl LVI Against Bengals

The Whitworth's spent 11 years in Cincinnati.

Author:
Elise Jesse
Publish date:
Feb 3, 2022 9:37 PM EST

The Whitworth name is well known in Cincinnati and is still beloved amongst the Bengals fan base.

Andrew and his wife Melissa still hold love for the Queen City, even though it's already been five years since he played for the Bengals.

And yes, they miss the little things about the city.

"Definitely one of the biggest things when we left and came to such a big place in L.A. not really knowing people and not having that small town feel," Andrew Whitworth said in an exclusive interview with All Bengals. "In Cincinnati we knew almost every person that worked in a restaurant when we went there. It’s not like we had one contact, we knew everybody that worked in the front the back the bar, waited tables you name it.”

“Especially the bar," Melissa joked.

“She knew all the bartenders in Cincinnati. We knew everybody and had some form or fashion of a relationship with everybody and I think we just enjoyed how intimate and small that was and really that was one of the things we missed the most," Andrew said. "How simple it was to go to dinner and know everybody in there and have an idea of who they are and what their journey was and those little things and that was the biggest adjustments was missing those folks and missing the town. We just loved being there and living there and the people we lives with there. That really was hard for us to get used to moving to such a big place at first.”

Cincinnati picked Whitworth in the second-round (55^th overall) of 2006 NFL Draft. He created an incredibly high standard of leadership within the Bengals' locker room for 11 seasons, before signing with the Rams in 2017.

It didn’t seem like Whitworth was fully appreciated by the organization at that time. His age was brought up constantly, even though he continued to play at a high level. At 35-years-old he was just coming off of his third Pro Bowl.

The day Whitworth became a free agent, the Rams made a competitive offer, and as expected other offers started to pour in, but as the day turned to night, he hadn't been given an offer that could even stand next to the Rams offer without being laughed at.

As Melissa Whitworth wrote for Lola Magazine a few years ago, the franchise responsible for drafting and developing the Pro Bowl left tackle didn’t value him in the way that other teams did.

“Andrew called Pat [his agent] back at dinner that night and said, 'I really don’t want to go anywhere else. I want to finish my career in Cincinnati, but their offer isn’t even competitive with the others," she wrote. "Can you reach out to them and see if they will increase their offer?' The answer hit us like a ton of bricks… “Andrew, here’s the text I just received from Troy Blackburn (one of the Bengals’ owners),” Pat’s text read. “I wanted you to read it for yourself. I’m sorry.” “We don’t have Andrew valued at that price,” Blackburn said. “He is an aging left tackle. Our offer stands. It will not increase. If he chooses to leave Cincinnati, all good things must come to an end, I guess.”

To be fair, NFL players are not known for playing into their late 30’s like Whitworth has been able to do. This season he became the first 40-year-old to start at left tackle in NFL history. The Bengals drafted Cedric Ogbuehi in the first round of the 2015 NFL Draft with the expectation that he would develop into Whitworth's replacement which didn’t pan out. In football years Whitworth is the exception, not the rule, and the Blackburn’s were trying to be proactive knowing that age and production do not typically go hand-in-hand in the National Football League.

Whitworth would go on to sign a three-year, $33.75 million deal with the Rams and move out to L.A. where he would withstand the test of time. He also found postseason success for the first time in his career.

"It was a wild year moving the kids out of school and moving here and trying to find somewhere to live and obviously, immerse yourself in a whole new organization and team and not really knowing as much about them and how they do things," Whitworth said. "There’s ups and downs and things you miss and things you’re excited about and to go through it and I think it helped us and made us a stronger family, stronger people and we learned a lot about ourselves in that moment. Now like everybody says we feel like we are where we are supposed to be and we couldn’t be more excited and more happy about their life and where we live and where our children are currently in life and how they’re feeling and we are really grateful for how things have worked out.”

This will be the left tackle’s second Super Bowl appearance in five seasons with the Rams. Many players spend years trying to get to this point even once in their careers.

"It was unbelievable I’ll never forget it, I mean just how big everything is and you realize what the super part is of the Super Bowl," Whitworth said. "Just how big and how much goes into every single day and everything you do it’s really easy to get mesmerized by it all. I can remember that experience and the game and it was unbelievable. Something we’ll always remember just as a family and from an experience stand point it was a really cool accomplishment and even more unbelievable to be in a second one.”

During that same year (2018) the Bengals would part ways with Marvin Lewis and hire former Rams quarterbacks’ coach, Zac Taylor in February of 2019. Taylor and Whitworth spent two seasons together in Los Angeles, which included a run to Super Bowl LIII and they've kept their relationship going.

“We’ve talked just more appreciation stuff throughout the year, throughout the playoffs. Him and I will text occasionally on Monday's and I’ll shoot him and text and congratulate him or notice something from the game you know that I’ve noticed to mess with him or something," Whitworth said. "I couldn’t be more happy for him and I knew when he took the job that he was going to do a great one and he was going to be great to represent the city of Cincinnati and he’s been tremendous. I love the guy he is and I could be more happy for him to be exactly where he’s at.”

“Always had a tremendous amount of respect for Whit, we’re the same age. He’s six months older than I am so I remember when we signed him,” Zac Taylor said on Thursday. “He’s kind of on the same path I have my boys on. He was a red shirt at some point during his youth and my boys are on that red shirt program as well so they’re going to be a little bit older for their age. The professionalism and the leadership he provided in L.A., you know he always had so much respect and appreciation for the Bengals and the staff here and the organization as a whole and I’m glad to have a relationship with Whit. He’s always done things the right way and he set a very high standard for those that he’s around.”

The Bengals had to try to replace the leadership that Whitworth provides to an NFL locker room. A task that is easier said than done. No other player’s voice commands the same type of attention and respect that Whitworth’s did until now.

Star quarterback Joe Burrow has an undeniable swagger about him, an attitude that had not been present inside Cincinnati’s locker room since Whitworth’s departure.

He was drafted in April 2020 and would undergo knee reconstruction surgery less than eight months later. Rams team Doctor Neal ElAttrache performed the surgery in Los Angeles. Burrow spent time recovering in Southern California, which allowed him to connect with the Whitworth's.

“Joe and his girlfriend Olivia came over and we just sort of fell in love with them," Melissa said. "They’re really good people they’re young, he is locked in at all times. He was probably seven days post surgery when he was here and it was like really, really early after his surgery and I got to spend a lot of time with her. What she was dealing with what she was going through and how to navigate that we live both of them. We pull for both of them every single Sunday except for the Sunday that we’ll play them.”

Now just over a year later two of the NFL’s strongest leaders will meet in Super Bowl LVI. The two are on opposite ends of their careers. Burrow in his second season and Big Whit is in year 16, but both are looking for their first Super Bowl ring.

“Whatever people want to say about how good different guys are at different positions, the reality is Cincinnati hadn’t won many football games when I got there and the Los Angeles Rams hadn’t won many football games when I got there," Whitworth said. "For both of those teams to be in the Super Bowl at the end of my career and the last game I’ll probably play I couldn’t be more ecstatic and honestly I’m not stressed at all about the game. To me that’s the part to go enjoy and give my best and see what happens. The part of getting here am realizing what two teams are in it is something I’m so happy and excited about for both places and I can’t wait for the opp [opportunity] to go compete and see what happens on the football field.”

Watch our exclusive conversation with the Whitworth's below and subscribe to our YouTube Channel.

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