Super Bowl 2022: Andrew Whitworth brings veteran perspective to Rams

By Eric D. Williams
FOX Sports NFL Writer

Be where your feet are.

For NFL players and coaches, that cliché is a way to reference staying in the present, not getting caught up in what happened in the past or what might happen in the future.

Los Angeles Rams left tackle Andrew Whitworth can relate to that sentiment. At 40 years old, he will soon become the oldest offensive lineman to suit up for a Super Bowl and just the eighth NFL player to compete in the championship game in his 40s. 

"The one thing that I can provide being 40 and the old man is perspective," Whitworth said. "I know how hard it is to be in this league. I know what it feels like at my age to try and play with all of these guys. And sometimes the only thing that gets me through it is realizing that I get to do it, and I don’t have to do it.

"And what a cool opportunity it is to get to be where I’m at and standing where my own two feet are and enjoy the moment. I try to make sure to use my wisdom, as they say, from my age to make sure all of these guys keep that in perspective and make sure they understand how neat is to get to do this for a living." 

L.A.’s graybeard played through serious injuries the past two years to reach his second Super Bowl. And on Sunday, he’ll look across the field and see his former team in the Cincinnati Bengals.

Of course, during his 11 seasons in the Queen City, Whitworth and the Bengals could never get past the first round of the playoffs, going 0-6 in the postseason in his tenure from 2006 to 2016. This season, Cincinnati has ended a 33-year drought by reaching the big game. 

Whitworth says he still regularly talks with Bengals coach Zac Taylor, who served as an assistant receivers and quarterbacks coach with the Rams before taking the job with Cincinnati in 2019.

"It’s really cool and really special," Whitworth said of facing his former team. "Having a relationship with a lot of the staff there still and some of the players … it’s a really special place to us. I think I told Zac Taylor this last night when we spoke: Both places have my heart, and both places have people I believe in.

"So it’s a really special and cool moment for me to get to play in this game and play against a place that means so much to me."

Whitworth also shares a special relationship with a fellow LSU product, Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow.

Late in his rookie season, Burrow suffered an ACL and MCL tear in his left knee, and his December 2020 surgery was performed by Dr. Neal ElAttrache, the Head Team Physician for the Rams and Los Angeles Dodgers. Whitworth, meanwhile, suffered an MCL and PCL tear in his left knee that forced him to miss seven games in 2020.

The two LSU alums rehabbed together in Los Angeles.

"I lived about 40 minutes from him, and we were both hurt at the same time," Burrow said. "So, I would go over to his house, and we would watch the games on Sunday. I spent my birthday at his house. And I also spent his birthday at his house. 

"So that was kind of a cool thing he did for me, reaching out and making the rehab process a little easier, being in California away from a lot of people that were close to me. We had some good times hanging out and watching football, talking about the Bengals and LSU and all of that."

Whitworth’s former offensive line coach in Cincinnati, Paul Alexander, said he knew during the pre-draft process in 2006 that Whitworth would be a productive NFL player.

"We liked him from the beginning," Alexander said. "I remember the first time I met him was the combine, and we were doing interviews at the train station. He was being interviewed by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. People were saying he was probably a guard or a right tackle. 

"I remember walking right up to him, pointing at him and saying, ‘Andrew Whitworth. Left tackle. First-round pick.’ And he looked up at me like, ‘Who is this guy?'"

The Bengals ended up drafting Whitworth — but not until the No. 55 overall selection in the second round.

Alexander said he watches Whitworth play every week, offering words of encouragement and occasional critiques through text messages. According to Alexander, even at age 40 Whitworth is still the best left tackle in the game and likely headed to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He calls Whitworth’s game film "teach tape" for young offensive linemen.

"He was just always so obsessed with studying technique and players," Alexander said. "He just loved football, so his success was really not too surprising. If anything, his technique is cleaner now because he realizes it’s a matter of technique and geometry. If he gets that right, then he’ll block his guy. It’s really unbelievable."

According to Pro Football Focus, Whitworth was the top-ranked pass-blocker at tackle during the regular season, allowing just 20 pressures on 625 pass-blocking snaps. 

"It’s the damndest thing ever that this guy’s still doing it at the age of 40," Rams coach Sean McVay said. "It’s awesome. When you get around him, you’re not as surprised."

Whitworth joined the Rams as a free agent in 2017 and signed a three-year, $30 million contract extension in March 2020 that runs through the 2022 season.

He has been durable, starting 235 games in his 16-year career, not including 14 playoff contests. A four-time Pro Bowler and two-time All-Pro, Whitworth is one of only two offensive linemen in NFL history to start in a win against all 32 teams in the league.

This season, he missed a Week 8 victory over the Houston Texans because of a knee injury, sat out a Week 16 win over the Minnesota Vikings due to COVID-19 and missed L.A.’s postseason victory against Tampa Bay due to knee and ankle injuries.

He has slowed Father Time by losing a few pounds each year, taking pressure off his body. He began this plan about 10 years ago, when he noticed talented blind-side protectors such as Jonathan Ogden, Orlando Pace and former teammate Willie Anderson start to gain weight later in their careers. 

The 6-foot-7 Whitworth usually reports to camp at around 315 pounds, much less than the 345 to 350 he played at early in his career. He keeps the weight off in the offseason by working out in the morning, golfing in the afternoon, playing basketball with his kids in the evening and eating healthy.

Whitworth also spends a lot of his free time making an impact off the field. For the fourth straight season, he is a nominee for the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award, to be presented Thursday during the NFL Honors ceremony.

His latest project is called "Big Whit Homes for LA Families," a program created to repair houses in his home state of Louisiana and move Los Angeles residents facing housing insecurity into affordable homes.

"I just learned at a young age … that putting a smile on somebody’s face and making somebody feel good made me feel better about who I was," he said. "And it also made me realize just how valuable attitude is. Who you are and the energy you carry can really make somebody’s day." 

On and off the field, Andrew Whitworth knows where his feet are.

Eric D. Williams has reported on the NFL for more than a decade, covering the Los Angeles Rams for Sports Illustrated, the Los Angeles Chargers for ESPN and the Seattle Seahawks for the Tacoma News Tribune. Follow him on Twitter @eric_d_williams.