Former Bengal Andrew Whitworth Influential in Cementing NFL's Protector Of The Year Award

A cool new award.

Sep 29, 2022; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; Cincinnati Bengal former player Andrew Whitworth watches the final minutes in the fourth quarter of the game against the Miami Dolphins at Paycor Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sam Greene/Cincinnati Enquirer via USA TODAY NETWORK | Cincinnati Enquirer-USA TODAY NETWORK

CINCINNATI — Former Bengals offensive tackle Andrew Whitworth dropped some more insight this week into how the NFL will hand out its newest award: Protector of the Year.

The NFL is going to start announcing the league's best offensive lineman for each season voted on by a panel that includes several former standout NFL linemen.

"I'm going to give credit to Dion Dawkins from Buffalo," NFL executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent noted this week. "He was truly instrumental, him and Andrew Whitworth, of just making sure that we recognize the big fellas. LeCharles Bentley, Jason Kelce, Shaun O'Hara, Orlando Pace, Will Shields and Andrew Whitworth will be the panel. ... They've come up with a criteria on skills, metrics, impact, leadership, durability, and strength of the opponent. We'll be tracking that quarterly with this group."

Whitworth gave some more criteria for the award on X, along with hints of an Offensive Line of the Year recognition.

"My understanding is there will still be recognition of an OL group of the year!" Whitworth posted. "The actual award will be for individual excellence! Yes, the group is important, but there are also individuals at their positions who deserve to be recognized as the best in the game that season!"

It's a long overdue way to acknowledge some of the most important members of an offense.

Whitworth would've been a strong candidate for this honor several times in his 16-year career.

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