Tag: Andrew Whitworth

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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Andrew Whitworth responds to tweet suggesting Russell Wilson can be a top-5 QB

Andrew Whitworth responded to a tweet about Russell Wilson being a top-5 QB, and he doesn’t agree

Russell Wilson’s first season in Denver went about as poorly as it possibly could have. He only won four of his 15 starts, throwing a career-low 16 touchdown passes and 11 interceptions. He was sacked more than any quarterback in the NFL, a whopping 55 times and his passer rating of 84.4 ranked 27th among qualified players.

The Broncos’ trade for Wilson looks awful after one season and if you ask Andrew Whitworth, Wilson isn’t even one of the eight best quarterbacks in his conference. Danny Kanell pitched the idea that Wilson was and can be a top-five quarterback in the NFL, and Whitworth replied with eight names he feels are better – just in the AFC.

All eight of the quarterbacks mentioned by Whitworth had better seasons than Wilson and even with Sean Payton joining the Broncos, it’s hard to see Wilson getting back to the Pro Bowl level he played at for so many years in Seattle.

Now that Whitworth is an analyst, he’s not afraid to share his opinion, which makes him a great follow on Twitter.

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Andrew Whitworth sends message to Bengals fans after win over Bills

Andrew Whitworth gave a shoutout to the Bengals OL after the win.

The Cincinnati Bengals got a huge performance from an offensive line starting three backups during Sunday’s win over the Buffalo Bills in the divisional round.

Bengals great Andrew Whitworth made sure to point that out on Twitter.

Whitworth was a subject of much fanfare as Bengals fans hoped for a Hollywood-esque unretirement from the veteran to help an offensive line down a starting left tackle, right guard and right tackle at the worst possible time.

But the game-long domination by the Bengals offensive line with Jackson Carman at left tackle, Max Scharping at right guard and Hakeem Adeniji turned heads and seemed to silence any calls for help.

Whitworth let it be known while praising the Bengals tackles, too:

The most intriguing part now? While the line looked good, there’s an outside chance left tackle Jonah Williams and right guard Alex Cappa can make it back for the AFC title game against the Chiefs.

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Andrew Whitworth responds to Bengals fans after Jonah Williams injury

Andrew Whitworth heard about the idea he’d come out of retirement to help the Bengals.

Cincinnati Bengals fans and other onlookers instantly hopped back on the Andrew Whitworth idea as soon as the Bengals made it through their playoff opener and had to confront the reality of the Jonah Williams injury.

Whitworth coming back out of retirement after the Bengals lost right tackle La’el Collins for the season was a popular idea, especially after some interesting comments by Whitworth himself.

That obviously didn’t happen, but it was only natural for people to loop back to the idea once Williams suffered a dislocated kneecap. After all, that’s an injury to left tackle, Whitworth’s natural spot.

Whitworth heard the calls on the Monday after the game and made a point to shut them down, though:

It’s a Hollywood-esque idea that Whitworth would come out of retirement for a few games and uplift the franchise he spent the majority of his career with to the Super Bowl, but of course not a realistic one if he hasn’t been keeping in game shape, among other factors.

And luckily for the Bengals, the team describes Williams and guard Alex Cappa as “week-to-week” injuries, so there’s always a chance they can get back soon if the Bengals stay alive.

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Andrew Whitworth ‘would be shocked’ to see Sean McVay not coaching

Andrew Whitworth weighed in on Sean McVay’s situation and he’d be “shocked to see him not leading a group of men”

Sean McVay hasn’t made up his mind yet about whether he’ll continue coaching the Los Angeles Rams or leave the sideline for some time. He’s weighing that decision right now, thinking about what’s best for himself and his family after a trying year in L.A.

Andrew Whitworth played for McVay for five years from 2017-2021 before retiring in the offseason, so he developed a close friendship with McVay off the field. The two remain good friends today, so Whitworth’s insight on the matter is worth listening to.

Having seen the leader that McVay is and the way he commands every room he walks into, Whitworth can’t imagine him not coaching.

“It was a tough year for that entire organization because when you go from being at that level to now, hey, we’re just finding ways to contend in games, I think that was tough on him, it was tough on everyone in that building,” he said on the Rich Eisen Show. “Obviously, a lot of other things happened in his life in this last year and all things that lead to you feeling stressed out and worn out. 
 It’s just hard for me to imagine him not leading rooms.”

Whitworth doesn’t have any inside knowledge on McVay’s decision, but he would be surprised if he doesn’t continue coaching.

“I would be shocked to see him not leading a group of men playing this game that he loves so much,” he added.

One potential career path for McVay if he does leave coaching is obviously broadcasting, which he’s openly expressed interest in. Whitworth says with how open and honest McVay is, he believes the Rams coach would be fantastic in a broadcast booth.

“Can he broadcast? Can he be in front of a TV audience? He will absolutely be exceptional at that. He will be unbelievable,” Whitworth said.

McVay wouldn’t put a timeline on his decision and the Rams aren’t rushing him into making one, so it’s unclear when we’ll learn what he plans to do in 2023 and beyond.

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The Vikings should call Andrew Whitworth about replacing Brian O’Neill

With O’Neill out for at least a week, the Vikings should go outside the box in trying to find a replacement

The Minnesota Vikings had some unfortunate injury luck when they faced the Green Bay Packers this past Sunday along the offensive line and the worst of it was Brian O’Neill. He suffered a significant injury to his right calf and was already ruled out of Sunday’s game against the Chicago Bears.

That leaves a couple of options internally, including Oli Udoh and Vederian Lowe, but they leave a lot to be desired. I wrote about a few options that the Vikings could target, but there was one that makes all the sense in the world that I didn’t mention.

Andrew Whitworth.

In a similar vein to when we discussed Odell Beckham Jr. joining the Vikings before Thanksgiving, Whitworth played for head coach Kevin O’Connell when he was the offensive coordinator for the Los Angeles Rams in both 2020 and 2021 and was tremendous in both seasons.

Teams have already made calls to Whitworth but as he said in the preseason right after the Dallas Cowboys left tackle Tyron Smith, they need to convince his family, not him.

Sure, it’s a long shot that Whitworth would first off want to come back and second come to Minnesota. The team that drafted him, the Cincinnati Bengals, have a need at tackle since La’el Collins tore his ACL just a week ago. They have an even deeper connection than O’Connell does.

The financial element is something that you could get really creative with. They could give him a signing bonus and pro-rate it with void years as he wouldn’t end up playing a single regular season game. All he would get was the postseason share.

It’s not the most likely scenario to bring in Whitworth, but it is something that the front office needs to inquire on.

Bengals fans continue to make unretirement pitches to Andrew Whitworth

Fans and notables in the community keep letting Andrew Whitworth hear it.

The Cincinnati Bengals will roll with in-house options to replace right tackle La’el Collins.

But that won’t stop those outside the team when it comes to the topic of Andrew Whitworth.

Whitworth, happily retired after a Super Bowl win last year, has at least acknowledged the fans who want to see him come out of retirement and rejoin the Bengals for a Hollywood-esque run.

It’s unlikely for many, many reasons, yet a fun thing to talk about, especially while there’s an extra day of waiting because the Bengals don’t play until Monday night.

Here’s a look at some of the latest messages sent to Whitworth and on the topic as a whole.

Andrew Whitworth talks unretirement, reunion with Bengals

Andrew Whitworth has now answered the Bengals question.

The chatter about Andrew Whitworth un-retiring and re-joining the Cincinnati Bengals has reached the man himself.

Whitworth, asked about the possibility of coming out of retirement and joining the Bengals in the wake of the season-ending injury suffered by La’el Collins, says he’ll never say never and that it would be a multi-step process.

Whitworth appeared on The Season with Peter Schrager podcast (h/t NFL.com’s Grant Gordon) and said the following: “I’ve said this since the day I retired, I’ll never say never. There’s always a chance.”

He then expanded on what an un-retirement would actually look like:

“I love adventures. I love taking on chances. So, to me, there’s always one. Obviously, there’s a lot of things that would go into it. I mean, I’m technically under contract still with the Rams, and I’d have to, I’d have to kick off the old, uh, dust a little bit and see if I could see if these tires could still move a little bit. But you know what, I’d, I’d never say no to the option, but, you know, I don’t know. It’d have to be a sit-down convo with, with [my wife] Melissa and the kids and say, ‘Hey, can we do this again or not?'”

In a prior podcast appearance, Whitworth had mentioned that one of the bigger regrets he has is not finishing as the winningest lineman of all time — something he’s one game away from becoming, by his own numbers.

But that ramp-up process Whitworth describes probably makes any sort of fairy tale-esque return an impossibility, no matter how much Bengals fans would love it given how things ended between the two parties the first time. He’s also talked about how tough moving to another side (right tackle) could be and how he wouldn’t want his unknown ability on that side to hurt the team’s chances.

For what it’s worth, Bengals coaches were also asked about this Tuesday and were dismissive, citing confidence in guys like Hakeem Adeniji as he gets ready to take over at right tackle.

Still, the buzz is here and one could argue stranger things have happened.

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