Andrew Whitworth says Bengals offered him 50-60 percent of what every other team offered
The Bengals made plenty of bad decisions in the middle of last decade, which is a big reason why they've had four straight losing seasons.
Taking Cedric Ogbuehi and Jake Fisher in the first and second-round of the 2015 NFL Draft might be their most egregious mistake.
Cincinnati spent the No. 21 pick on Ogbuehi, hoping that he could replace long-time left tackle Andrew Whitworth. They doubled down when Fisher was still available in the second round.
Both tackles were busts. Fisher is no longer in the NFL and Ogbuehi is clinging to life in the league. He signed a one-year deal with Seattle this offseason.
Whitworth was entering a contract year and coming off one of his best seasons in 2014. He asked for an extension, but the front office was silent and didn't communicate with him about their plans to select his replacement early in the draft.
Whitworth voiced his displeasure in an interview shortly after the draft, which led to Katie and Troy Blackburn doubling down on their mistake to take Ogbuehi and Fisher.
“After I went out in the media and said there wasn’t any communication, they [Katie and Troy Blackburn] brought me in the next week and said ‘we’re going to move forward with these two guys and we think you’re done,'" Whitworth said on Willie Anderson's Instagram.
Bengals owner Mike Brown stepped in during the 2015 season. Cincinnati was 2-0 and on their way to an 8-0 start. He made the decision to keep 'Big Whit' around for at least one more year.
“Midseason of that year, Mike (Brown) and I ended up sitting down as we always did usually to talk ball," Whitworth said. "He decided... him — not anybody else — Mike decided on his own that he wanted me to stick around another year so he ended up giving me a one-year extension, just between him and I.”
Whitworth agreed to a one-year, $9 million extension. The Bengals would keep their leader through the 2016 season, but the damage was already done.
As Whitworth entered free agency for the first time in his career, he knew the Blackburns would be the ones negotiating his deal with the Bengals.
"I was not as angry when that went down because really it all went down two years before," Whitworth said. "It wasn’t that I wouldn’t have taken a Bengals deal to come back. The Bengals offered me 50 percent, 60 percent of what every team in the league offered me.
“Could I go back for half the deal that I could get anywhere else? Sure, but I don’t know if I would’ve felt right going back just because that bridge had left.”
Not many (if any) Bengals fans blame Whitworth for signing with the Rams. He agreed to a three-year, $36 million with Los Angeles in 2017. He was an All-Pro in his first season and helped the Rams reach the Super Bowl in 2018.
He signed another three-year, $30 million deal with Los Angeles this offseason. Meanwhile, the Bengals are still searching for his replacement. They hope 2019 first-round pick Jonah Williams can be the franchise left tackle, but he has yet to play in an NFL game.
Drafting Ogbuehi and Fisher was arguably the Bengals' biggest mistake of the last decade. Those picks led to Whitworth's departure and it's one of the main reasons why Cincinnati has had four straight losing seasons.
Watch Anderson's entire interview with Whitworth below:
