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Andrew Whitworth had a lot of nerves and anxiety before signing with the Rams in 2017
Skyler Carlin
June 25, 2021 11:21 am PT
When Sean McVay became the head coach of the Los Angeles Rams in 2017, one of the first signings the franchise made was Andrew Whitworth. Whitworth was a three-time Pro Bowler and a one-time All-Pro on the Cincinnati Bengals before joining the Rams. While the veteran offensive tackle was still at the top of his game, Whitworth recounted what was going through his head prior to putting pen to paper with Los Angeles during an interview on the Jim Rome Show.
“You know, I can remember thinking to myself I don’t know what I’m doing because it’s one of those situations in free agency that a lot of people don’t know that you can’t officially set a flight or do anything until that window actually opens for free agency,” Whitworth said. “So we had kind of been verbally talking, my agent to the team, and knew we were going to have to go out to (Los Angeles) take a physical.”
After spending 11 years with the Bengals, Whitworth seemed intrigued by the idea of playing for a new team, especially one that could contend for a Super Bowl. With free agency getting underway back in 2017, Whitworth spoke about the thoughts he and his family had upon making the trip across the country to Los Angeles.
He admitted there were a lot of nerves and anxiety, not knowing what the next chapter of his career was going to be like.
“We didn’t book a flight until the end of that day, so we ended up being the last flight from Cincinnati to Salt Lake City, and a long connection from Salt Lake City,” he said. “It ended up being around 1 a.m. when we got to L.A. with our kids. So we’re just sitting there like, ‘What are we doing? We have never done this before.’ And just a lot of nerves, a lot of anxiety [about] what the days ahead looked like. We couldn’t be more thankful and grateful for how it’s all gone, and how well we’ve been treated, and what an experience it’s been for us.”
Fast forward four years from when Whitworth signed with the team in free agency, and he’s still one of the most reliable left tackles in the NFL at 39 years old. But after protecting the blind side of Jared Goff for four seasons, Whitworth will be doing the same for Matthew Stafford in 2021 – marking another big change in his NFL career.
