Andrew Whitworth helped usher in a new era of Rams football in 2017 when he signed as a free agent, coming over from the Bengals where he spent the first decade of his career. Still playing at a high level, he joined Los Angeles and solved one of the team’s biggest problems at left tackle.
He did so with a new coach in Sean McVay, who was at the forefront of the Rams’ rebuild. Whitworth and McVay spent the last three years together in L.A., giving the Rams a unique relationship between a player who was older than his coach.
Whitworth, 38, is in the final year of his contract with the Rams and with the season coming to a close, McVay opened up about how much Whitworth means to him not just as a player, but as a person on and off the field.
“He’s meant a lot. He’s a special individual. Like I’ve said before, one of the most empathetic individuals I’ve ever met in my life. I think that’s a rare quality, I think it’s a great quality for any leader to possess,” McVay said, before getting a jab in at the veteran. “He’s got a great wisdom – he has been playing for 40 years, so he’s got a lot of experiences to draw on. It’s a relationship that I certainly cherish. He’s helped me a lot as your still getting familiar with how to best handle this role and navigate through the things that occur on a daily basis. Somebody like him has been instrumental and I think when you look at when we first got here as a staff, working with Les and his group, for him to represent – he and Robert Woods, really – your first two free agent signings, it’s hard to find two better representatives of what it looks like to go find the right kinds of guys that are wired in all the right ways and are also great competitors.”
Whitworth said he intends to play another season in 2020, but it remains to be seen if that will be with the Rams or another team. Los Angeles doesn’t have much money to spend this offseason and it has a lot of players to pay, so Whitworth might be out of the front office’s price range.
One thing’s for sure, though: Whitworth will be missed if he doesn’t return to the Rams next season, in the locker room, in the community and on the field.
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