Andrew Whitworth has made it clear all offseason that he’d like to return to the Rams in 2021, and the team has shown that the feeling is mutual. But as both sides indicated, there were hurdles to get over first before Whitworth would be guaranteed to be back at left tackle.
On Tuesday, the Rams and Whitworth took the first step toward his return by restructuring his contract to create some much-needed cap space. According to Jeremy Fowler of ESPN, he’s one of several veterans to restructure his deal – a list that also includes Jalen Ramsey and Robert Woods, as well as Aaron Donald and Cooper Kupp relatively soon.
LT Andrew Whitworth is among Rams veterans to restructure their contracts for salary cap purposes as L.A. works to get compliant, per source.
— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) March 16, 2021
By restructuring his contract, Whitworth is almost certain to return to the Rams next season. This move pushes money out to later years, thus making it more difficult to cut him. The Rams probably weren’t planning to release him anyway, but this makes it highly unlikely that they’ll be moving on from the 39-year-old left tackle.
The Rams entered Tuesday sitting more than $37 million over the salary cap, which didn’t even include Leonard Floyd’s new four-year deal. They must get under the cap by 4 p.m. ET on Wednesday, which they should be close to doing after all of these restructures.
Whitworth was set to have an $11.2 million cap hit in 2021, a number that will be lower after restructuring his deal.
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