Andrew Whitworth wanted to retire as a member of the Bengals

Cincinnati Bengals legend Andrew Whitworth wants to retire with the team.

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Former Cincinnati Bengals offensive tackle Andrew Whitworth is a tough subject for fans.

Make no mistake — Whitworth is adored by fans. But he’s also a bit of a sour point because his departure once again stands as the biggest turning point of where things went wrong for the franchise.

But that won’t prevent Whitworth from feeling strongly about his time with the Bengals, so much so he might still retire with the team.

Whitworth told former Bengals tackle Willie Anderson that he made clear this intention with Bengals owner Mike Brown when signing with the Los Angeles Rams:

“Yeah, when I left there, that was really kind of the intention. Obviously, whenever I’m done playing, that’ll be the decision I’ll make at that time. But yeah, at that time when I left there, that was kind of the intention. And that was really the only thing that – Mike was obviously not happy when I left – but that was really something that was important to him ask me about whenever I actually signed with the Rams.”

Good luck figuring out when Whitworth will actually retire given the rate he’s going as he heads toward the age of 40. But it’s clear he’s possibly penciled in a one-day contract with his former team for when he does decide to hang up the cleats.

That won’t fix the droves of mistakes the team made in letting Whitworth get away originally — he said they low-balled him and then tried to follow his departure with draft mishaps and still haven’t guaranteed a starting left tackle to this day.

But it could be amazing for fans to see him in stripes one last time and to know Whitworth still wants to be a part of the organization and remembered as a Bengal.

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