Andrew Whitworth come out on top.
The 40-year-old left-footed Los Angeles Rams announced his retirement on Tuesday, ending a 16-year career in the NFL, which was capped by a Super Bowl victory against his former team.
He announced this in a video posted on Instagram.
He has gone back and forth in the public comments about whether the 2021 season will be his last. Whitworth was quoted in December as saying that the only way he would retire was if the Rams could not afford it “or there was some other way that we both wouldn’t be able to come back”. But two days before Super Bowl LVI, Whitworth looked as though he was ready to call it a career if the Rams beat the Cincinnati Bengals, the team he spent his first 11 seasons with.
“If I’m going to do that, what an unrealistic way, no matter what, to get out,” Whitworth said on February 11, “I don’t know there’s nothing left for me to do after this point. We’ll see.” “
Whitworth’s resume includes four Pro Bowl picks (2012, 2015-17) and two All-Pro first team picks (2015 and 2017). According to Elias Sports Bureau research, he became the only player to start a left tackle in an NFL game at the age of 40 after reaching that age in December.
During his five seasons with the Rams, Whitworth started 71 games and ranked second in ESPN’s pass block winning rate among offensive tackles.
He was named the 2021 NFL Player of the Year Walter Payton.
“He definitely meant a lot to this organization on and off the field,” Rams coach Sean McVeigh said during the 2021 season. “I guess you sometimes take it for granted that he’s 40. If you don’t know his bald head and things like that, I mean he moves like he’s young and has great sportsmanship.
A second-round pick from LSU in 2006, Whitworth started 168 games for the Bengals over 11 seasons in Cincinnati. The Rams made him one of the first free agent additions under McVay when they signed him in a three-year $33.75 million deal in 2017. Whitworth had one year left over the three years, the $30 million he signed in 2020.
His retirement will provide $15.5 million in maximum space for Rams, according to List Management System data. Los Angeles was about $19 million over its 2022 salary cap as of Sunday, per RMS.
Whitworth backup, Joe Notboom, agreed to re-sign Ramez on Monday to a three-year contract worth up to $47.5 million, including $25 million guaranteed, a source told ESPN’s Lindsey Terry. center Brian Allen He’s back, too, a source told ESPN’s Adam Shifter Monday, with a three-year, $24 million deal.
“Student. Incurable problem solver. Amateur baconaholic. Introvert. Infuriatingly humble music fanatic.”