Tag: Andrew Whitworth

Andrew Whitworth wishes everyone knew how much Matthew Stafford’s elbow injury hindered him in 2022

Andrew Whitworth wishes Matthew Stafford was on Netflix’s “Quarterback” show so everyone could see how bad his elbow injury was

Matthew Stafford has been a full-go all offseason for the Rams this year, throwing every single day in practice with the exception of one planned rest day in camp. That’s a stark contrast to the workload he had in 2022 when he didn’t throw at all in the spring and was limited throughout camp.

It was due to his elbow injury, which carried over from 2021 and required an injection last offseason to subside some of the discomfort. The Rams downplayed it every step of the way, as did Stafford himself, but it’s obvious the injury was a bigger problem than initially perceived.

Andrew Whitworth is the latest person to come out and reveal just how much it impacted Stafford and the Rams as a whole. He said on the “Rich Eisen Show” that he wishes Stafford was on Netflix’s “Quarterback” series just so everyone could see what he was going through last year.

“I think people really don’t understand because he is such a private guy and somebody that would never complain or even ever let you know when he’s going through something,” Whitworth said. “Last year was a really, really tough year. It’s unfortunate he wasn’t on the ‘Quarterback’ series that just came out because it would’ve crazy for people to see just how intense his arm issues and things that were bothering him.”

Whitworth was almost baffled by Stafford’s limited offseason in 2022. He can’t believe he went into the season getting in so little work throughout the spring and summer, not being able to go through his typical offseason regimen.

“He’s a private guy but I mean, to not throw a football with your guys the entire offseason basically,” Whitworth continued. “And then to get into camp and be like, ‘Hey, you can only throw so many balls a day and only so many times a week. To really have zero opportunities as a quarterback to throw passes to receivers and then walk into an NFL game and say, ‘All right, I’m gonna go out here and perform.’ One, you know that your arm is obviously not in a great place in how it’s feeling. And two, just having that ability to throw passes in practice and work at your craft. And that’s what every quarterback does. You see them after practice constantly working on certain things. To not have the ability to do that, man, just the mental state he had to be in of struggling. Like, ‘Hey, I want to go out here and perform. I want to live up to the expectations, but right now, I’m in a situation I can’t.’”

A lot of people are down on Stafford this year after he threw just 10 touchdown passes and eight interceptions in nine games last season, but the Rams still have high expectations for him. They picked up his option this offseason, keeping him as their starting quarterback for years to come.

And now that he’s healthy again, he should be poised for a bounce-back year as a passer. But it’s clear we didn’t get the full story of just how bad his elbow injury was in 2022, and how much it hindered him on the field.

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Andrew Whitworth sees infectious energy at Rams practice: ‘You’d think they just won a game’

Andrew Whitworth attended a few Rams practices and he said “it sounds like a high school practice” – which he sees as a good thing

The Los Angeles Rams are almost certainly going to be the youngest and least experienced team in the NFL this season. More than a third of their current roster is made up of rookies, 14 of which were drafted this offseason.

As concerning as their lack of experience can be heading into the 2023 season, there’s also a benefit to it: energy. Sean McVay has talked about it, Matthew Stafford has mentioned it and so has Raheem Morris.

There’s a new level of energy that the Rams are bringing to practice, which Andrew Whitworth couldn’t help but notice when he was in attendance at training camp this summer. He said it sounds like a high school practice with how loud and energetic this team is, led by an outgoing defensive back group that erupts every time a pass is batted down.

“At times it’s fun because going to their first couple of practices, it sounds like a high school practice, like how loud they are,” Whitworth said on the “Rich Eisen Show” this week. “Every time somebody makes a play, the entire DB group – all a bunch of youngsters – are jumping all over the field. You’d think they just won a game. But if they break up a pass for Cooper Kupp or they knock down a Matthew Stafford long pass down the sideline to Tutu (Atwell) or Van Jefferson, it’s like they throw a party. And so there’s this infectious energy to being that young that’s also cool for a team that’s in a position where last year was bad days at work, right? I mean, it was a tough, tough year for them. You get down on yourself, you get down on your belief. But I think to have some of that young energy is a positive for them right now.”

Toward the end of Whitworth’s time with the Rams, he was on a team that featured several established veterans and stars. Jalen Ramsey, Von Miller, Odell Beckham Jr., Leonard Floyd, Eric Weddle. The list goes on. But the current look of the Rams’ roster is vastly different with the injection of youth they’ve had.

Whether that translates to wins remains to be seen, but the Rams are going to bring the energy every single day, in practice and on game days. That’s something fans should be excited to see.

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Watch: Andrew Whitworth shares advice with Rams rookie Steve Avila after practice

Andrew Whitworth was at training camp this week and after one practice, he took some time to work with Steve Avila

Andrew Whitworth retired after the 2021 season but because he still lives in Los Angeles, he’s remained close to the Rams – the team he won his first playoff game and Super Bowl with. Not only has he been present in the draft room with Les Snead and Sean McVay, but he’s also been to training camp and regular-season practices a bunch since retiring.

Whitworth was in attendance for a practice earlier this week and after the day was wrapped up, he stuck around and talked to rookie Steve Avila, sharing some advice and wisdom with the first-year lineman.

“This is like perfecting a golf swing. Every day is going to be a new little thing, right?” Whitworth said. “So you’re going to learn little lessons, the key is to learn those lessons, right? There’s going to be a little something every day that you’ll pick up. ‘My eyes are going to be a little here. Right side, I just have to be a little more tough. You know, I got to shoot this one faster.’”

Whitworth worked as an analyst with Amazon Prime last season and was fantastic in his new role on TV, sharing valuable insight each and every week. He’d make a great coach one day if he wants to go down that path, but for now, the Rams will take having him on the practice field every now and then to help their linemen.

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Look: Matthew Stafford, Sean McVay and Andrew Whitworth were out at the US Open together

Matthew Stafford, Sean McVay and Andrew Whitworth were all out at the US Open at LACC this weekend

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The stars were out over the weekend with the 2023 U.S. Open being held at the Los Angeles Country Club in Beverly Hills. Among them were three current and former members of the Los Angeles Rams: Matthew Stafford, Sean McVay and Andrew Whitworth.

The three of them became close over the last couple of years after the Rams acquired Stafford from the Lions, not only winning a Super Bowl together in 2021, but spending a lot of time as friends outside of football.

They were out at LACC over the weekend taking in some fantastic golf at the beautiful course, the first time it hosted a U.S. Open. Check out some photos from McVay, Stafford and Whitworth’s day at the year’s third major, which was won by Wyndham Clark on Sunday night.

Head coach Sean McVay of the Los Angeles Rams is seen during the third round of the 2023 U.S. Open at The Los Angeles Country Club in Los Angeles, Calif. on Saturday, June 17, 2023. (Don Liebig/USGA)
Matthew Stafford of the Los Angeles Rams is seen during the third round of the 2023 U.S. Open at The Los Angeles Country Club in Los Angeles, Calif. on Saturday, June 17, 2023. (Don Liebig/USGA)
A fan poses with James Worthy, left and Andrew Whitworth, right at the meet and greet at the U.S. Open Showcase during the 2023 U.S. Open at The Los Angeles Country Club in Los Angeles, Calif. on Thursday, June 15, 2023. (Copyright USGA/Mike Nelson)

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Andrew Whitworth doesn’t think about whether he’ll make the Hall of Fame

Andrew Whitworth doesn’t think about whether he’ll make the Hall of Fame or not, despite an incredibly impressive resume

Andrew Whitworth will go down as one of the Rams’ best free-agent signings ever. He joined Los Angeles in 2017 after a successful career with the Bengals, but one that lacked a single playoff win in 11 seasons. With the Rams, Whitworth was a Pro Bowler, first-team All-Pro, Super Bowl champion and winner of the 2021 Walter Payton Man of the Year Award – one of the most prestigious honors in the NFL.

Whitworth has a resume that warrants Hall of Fame consideration, but he’s not someone who thinks much about whether he’ll make it to Canton one day. He told D’Marco Farr that he doesn’t think about his candidacy much.

“I don’t. I really don’t,” he said. “Obviously, if you sat there and said, ‘Hey, let’s have an argument about why you belong.’ Yeah, I think there’s plenty of things that I did that haven’t been done and not only just at the offensive line position. I think Sean (McVay) said this when I retired. I forget the statistic. But it’s like the amount of games I started, won a Walter Payton Man of the Year trophy and a Super Bowl, there’s only three people in NFL history that have accomplished that. I think it’s me, Peyton (Manning) and Eli (Manning). You’re in rare, rare – like, a lot of those things put you in rare positions.”

One record Whitworth wishes he had broken during his playing days was the one held by Jeff Saturday for the most career wins by an offensive lineman. Whitworth came up one win short, which had him feeling last year like he wishes he would’ve gone out for one or two more games.

“Last year, as good as I felt, there was a couple times where I was like, ‘Dangit, I should go back out for a couple games because I did end my career one game short of the winningest O-lineman ever.’ Jeff Saturday holds that. He’s got one more win than me,” he continued. So you never know, I may try to suit up this fall. No, that’s not happening.”

Whitworth knows he’s got the resume to potentially make it to the Hall of Fame, and he could make his case for Canton, but he’s not interested in doing that. He’s more focused on giving back.

“It’s like, yeah, could I argue it? But I don’t really want to,” he said. “I think I got everything out of this game that I could ever dream or ever want, and I can’t wait to keep giving back to it. There are so many guys that I get to mentor and lean on, and to me, that’s what I think about right now. What can I give back to the game and help some other guy get to where he wants to get and reach his dream.”

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Rams have 2nd-most dead money in NFL this year: Here’s how it breaks down

The Rams currently have $74.2 million in dead money this year, which is the second-most in the NFL.

It’s no secret that the Los Angeles Rams are looking toward the future with how they’ve conducted business since the conclusion of the 2022 season. After acquiring them via trade or in free agency in recent years, the Rams have parted ways with Jalen Ramsey, Leonard Floyd, Bobby Wagner, and Allen Robinson — among others — this offseason.

By moving on from these players, the Rams have freed up cap space for future years, but they’ll be eating quite a bit of dead cap in 2023, as a result. Dead cap, or dead money, is defined as money that a team still owes when a player is released, traded, or if they have void years included in their contracts.

According to Over The Cap, following the Robinson trade, the Rams currently have $74.2 million in dead money this season. That is the second-most dead cap in the NFL right now, only behind the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who currently possess $75.3 million in dead money.

With a large amount of dead money sitting on their books, the Rams are limited in cap space, having only $1.5 million to spend (fifth-fewest in the NFL) right now. Guys like Ramsey, Floyd, Wagner, and Robinson make up a big chunk of the dead money, but we’ll be taking a look at all of the players contributing to the dead cap number below.

Andrew Whitworth expects Rams O-line to be ‘a lot better’ in 2023

Andrew Whitworth explained why he thinks the Rams’ offensive line will be much better in 2023.

Andrew Whitworth may not be a member of the Los Angeles Rams anymore, but he remains close to the organization. And being a former offensive lineman, he knows a thing or two about blocking up front.

So when he looks at the Rams’ offensive line and says he thinks it should improve in 2023, his opinion is worth listening to. Whitworth was on the Rich Eisen Show recently and he shared his thoughts on the Rams as a whole, and specifically the offensive line.

After a disastrous 2022 season that saw them start 11 different O-line combos in the first 11 weeks, Whitworth expects the protection to be “a lot better” this season. With their younger players gaining experience and Steve Avila stepping in as a potential rookie starter, the Rams should improve.

“They have a group up front, I look for them to be much better. I think they’re gonna be a lot better,” Whitworth said. “I love the pick of the kid out of TCU. I think they’ve got some young linemen now that have played and they’ll be more experienced. I really look for them to be a little bit of a surprise. Do I think they’re still going to be limited in some of the talent they have and they’re gonna have some youth? Yes, but the beginning of their schedule’s tough. The beginning of their schedule is a rough start, that is for sure.”

Whitworth knows the Rams are lacking talent. It’s obvious to anyone who looks at their roster. But he’s not ruling them out as potential playoff contenders. He’s seen crazier things happen in the NFL and each year, there are a few teams that surprise everyone.

He thinks the Rams could be one of them in an NFC that’s weaker than usual. He can’t definitively say which seven teams in the conference are better than the Rams right now. If Matthew Stafford, Aaron Donald and Cooper Kupp can stay healthy, they’ll have a shot.

“It’s really gonna come down to, can those three guys – and the veteran guys that are left – stay healthy? Because if they lose one or two of those guys, it’s gonna get bad quickly. That’s really the truth about their team,” he said.

Look: Andrew Whitworth working with Micah Parsons on pass-rush technique

Micah Parsons thanked Andrew Whitworth for working with him on his pass-rush technique this week

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Andrew Whitworth hasn’t played in the NFL since the 2021 season, opting to retire after the Los Angeles Rams won Super Bowl LVI against his former team, the Cincinnati Bengals. He’s taken on a role as a broadcaster with Amazon Prime, but he looks like he could still play in the NFL right now at the age of 41.

He was spotted working out with Cowboys star Micah Parsons, helping him out with his pass-rush moves as Parsons transitions to a full-time role as a defensive end in Dallas. Kevin Gray Jr. clipped a video from Tim Riley on Instagram, which shows Parsons working against Whitworth in a pass-rush drill.

Parsons took to Twitter on Friday to thank Whitworth for his time and help, giving him a big shoutout. He thanked Whitworth for helping him “grow as a player,” learning from the Super Bowl champion of the Rams.

The Rams have to face the Cowboys in Week 8 this season so hopefully Whitworth didn’t help Parsons too much. Otherwise, he could give Los Angeles’ offensive line fits in Dallas this year.

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Andrew Whitworth loves that the Rams took an O-lineman at No. 36

Andrew Whitworth was thrilled to see the Rams addressing the offensive line early in the draft by selecting Steve Avila

Andrew Whitworth knows a little bit about offensive line play and he was thrilled to see the Rams take Steve Avila with their first pick in the 2023 NFL draft. Whitworth, who retired after the 2021 season and is now an analyst on Amazon, tweeted his love for the Rams’ initial selection on Friday night.

Whitworth is no longer on the Rams but he remains close to the organization and attended a bunch of practices during training camp last year. He was even in the Rams’ draft room last April, hanging out with Les Snead and Sean McVay.

Here’s how he reacted to the pick on Twitter.

Andrew Whitworth: Rams started all-in trend but Eagles have maximized it

The Rams and Eagles both took aggressive approaches to reach the Super Bowl, but Andrew Whitworth sees differences between the two

Since Sean McVay became the head coach in 2017, the Los Angeles Rams have been aggressive in free agency and the trade market. They’ve traded picks for players more than a few times, acquiring the likes of Jalen Ramsey, Matthew Stafford and Von Miller.

There’s no denying that their plan worked, seeing as they won the Super Bowl a year ago, but we also saw the cost of that approach last season when they went 5-12. Granted, injuries played a bigger role in their struggles than a lack of talent, but it was a tough year regardless.

The Eagles used the Rams’ blueprint this season to reach the Super Bowl, trading for A.J. Brown and Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, signing Haason Reddick in free agency and adding both Ndamukong Suh and Linval Joseph in-season.

Andrew Whitworth was on the “Pat McAfee Show” this week and he explained the differences between the Rams and Eagles’ “all-in” tactics. He feels the Eagles are much better set up for future success than Los Angeles is.

“I think the tough part for the Rams when people look at it to this year is that you have people retire, you have people move on. In Philly, you have a scenario where there is some free agents and some guys that are leaving, but they still have a lot of draft capital, they still have a lot of great players on their roster that are gonna be there for years to come,” Whitworth said. “It’s a little bit different than what we did. I think the Rams started the trend, but Philly has really maximized it. You look at the draft capital that they have and being in the Super Bowl and the young talent they have, they could be really good for years to come. I think that’s definitely different than really the Rams’ model because right now, they’re in a tough situation salary cap-wise.”

McAfee followed up by asking whether Whitworth believes the Rams are in trouble – to put it nicely.

“They’re in a tough situation,” Whitworth replied. “You’re gonna have to figure out a way to not only manipulate the cap some, but you don’t have a lot of draft capital, you don’t have a lot of things to build on this year and say ‘All right, we’re gonna have a rebound.’ It’s gonna be built on, man, just hoping guys come back healthier and we can play better.”

The Rams are currently $14 million over the cap for 2023, while the Eagles are $4 million clear of the limit. The biggest difference is the Rams are paying Stafford $40 million a year compared to Jalen Hurts’ $1.5 million salary on his rookie contract – which has a cap hit of only $4.8 million in 2023.

Hurts’ inevitable raise will bring the Eagles back to reality, but there’s no question they’ve taken full advantage of his rookie deal, just like the Rams did with Jared Goff in 2018 when they went to the Super Bowl.

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