Andrew Whitworth Talks Super Bowl Chances for Rams, Bengals

Andrew Whitworth was one of the best offensive tackles during his 16-season NFL career.

The 44-year-old was a three-time All-Pro selection and a four-time Pro Bowler who had notable stints with the Cincinnati Bengals (2006-2016) and the Los Angeles Rams (2017-2021). Whitworth's last game saw him win Super Bowl LVI, becoming the oldest offensive lineman to play and win (40 years old) in a Super Bowl.

Whitworth is enjoying his post-football career as a notable analyst for Amazon Prime's NFL coverage. He took the time to speak to Athlon Sports for a one-on-one interview about his former teams, the Rams and Bengals, along with his participation in the biggest annual celebrity golf tournament, the American Century Championship.

[Editor's note: The following article has been lightly edited for readability.]

Athlon Sports: I want to talk to you about the Rams. They're riding high right now, they just got Myles Garrett, the best defensive player in the league. What are your thoughts on them? Are they the Super Bowl favorites entering the season in your mind?

Andrew Whitworth: I think that it's one of those things that the game of football is funny. We get so excited about teams in the offseason, who they add, and how successful we think they'll be, but that's just not how you play football. You earn it every single week, and injuries are a factor. Your health throughout the season is a factor. How you play and who you play, and when you play them is a factor. Teams get hot, you get people's best shot. And here's the reality: The Rams have been crowned before the season ever started as a team that everybody's gonna be looking to win the Super Bowl.

That means that the big old target just got put on your back, and in every single locker room, in every single meeting now, every coach, the week they play you, are going to circle you and say this is how we prove to the whole entire world that we are the team that actually should be respected that way instead of the Rams. You're going to start getting the best shot everybody has. I'm excited for them. I love the moves they've had. I think they've had an unbelievable offseason of building a team that could be successful for the future, not just this year, but going forward.

But it's a long road, man, and you got to earn it every week, and adversity is coming. We know that you're going to have to have some moments of sacrifice, and some big, big moments where guys are going to have to step up and do something to get you through some of those ruts. That's inevitably a football season in the NFL, and so that's what we don't know yet, we don't know who they were, who they are on the journey yet together, and I think that they are definitely a really special team, but they have a long way to go, man.

Athlon:One guy that could get them over the hump is your former teammate, Aaron Donald. There's talk about him possibly coming out of retirement. What are your thoughts on that? And if you had to make a prediction, do you think he comes back?

Whitworth: For him, it may be just shifting to a little bit of football focused in his workouts, and seeing what he feels like.

I would imagine that's what he'll do this summer, if he actually is that interested, which he seems like he's just curious. I think he said that, it'd be interesting to see, does he do something like that this summer? That's what I would do. I would probably kind of just shift a little bit of it to football, and how I train, and just see if I felt like my body felt good, and if I felt invigorated, if I felt like going on the chase because I think that's the thing, we can glorify how good he was, we can talk about how wonderful if he is back, but what people got to understand is that journey - you're choosing to accept that your body, the pain that you're going to be under, what you're going to endure week in and week out, man. It is mentally draining.

I always say this: At six months after I retired, it finally clicked over, like, that my body - I stopped waking up just in pain and miserable, just trying to walk to the bathroom, and I realized then, like, man, I didn't realize how much pain I've been just under all the time, and now I don't really ever want to go back to like that journey again. I just don't have the energy for it, and so I think for him it's really like it's a lot bigger than just would we be good and would I be successful. It's like, man, I know this kind of changes my personality a little bit. It puts me in, I gotta go into this journey warrior path to be the best version of myself, and what does that do for me, my family, and everybody else? Is it worth it? And I think for him it's making that decision inevitably.

Athlon: I want to get your thoughts real quick on the Bengals this season. I don't know if you saw the recent quote from Joe Burrow, but he said this is the best team that he's been on since he entered the NFL. He compared it to his 2019 LSU team that won the national championship. What are your thoughts on the Bengals and that quote?

Whitworth: Yeah, dude, I'm excited, I really am. Now listen, I think that they're excited, and they're pumped up, and I think you can see some real change in Joe, in the sense of there's a real emphasis by him and his leadership style to make an emphasis in changing that and being a different dude. I'm excited for him on that, and then I think that really when you look at it, what they've done on defense and really the changes there, I think they feel excited that this division is wide open.

If you look at it, there's changes in Baltimore, there's Pittsburgh, there's changes in Cleveland, there's changes on some of the rosters and some of the guys they have. I think that there's a lot of questions with all those other rosters, and the one thing the Cincinnati Bengals can say is, regardless of how long it's been, they had this run, and yes, they've been great on offense, but they've been injured, they've been insane statistically on offense in every one of these seasons. Nobody's been able to stop them, so they've got to feel good about the fact that if you had one thing you think in this division that you can count on that offensively this team is going to be really good, and now defensively they're going to be a little bit better, and maybe way better.

I think that you got to feel good about their chances, because I think when you look across the AFC, there's still a lot of questions like with Buffalo. Change again, right? That's the reality in Denver, an unbelievable defensive season last year. Can they repeat that performance? Bo Nix is in the next progression. They've added some weapons, who will they be? And the Chargers in L.A., like what does that relationship look like? I just think there's a lot of questions out there, and some that you're excited about, but none that you go, "Oh man, there's a definitive team that there's no chance Cincinnati's beating them." I think it'd be fun to see how this journey goes for them, and I think Joe's right. I think they have every bit as much opportunity. They just have to stay healthy and be ready to go.

Athlon: I'll ask you this - Joe Burrow, obviously, that's a big piece. Franchise quarterback, a lot of questions about his future. They haven't made it to the playoffs in three consecutive years. Do you think that this season largely determines whether or not he's going to remain in Cincinnati for the long term? Do you think a lot of that talk is overblown?

Whitworth: Well, I just think that for one, what is Joe Burrow worth in an open market of people trying to trade for him? I mean it's got to be something insane. And then with Cincinnati and a league that's driven by who you have holding the football in their hand every time you snap a football, would you ever give up Joe Burrow? I think that it's a fun narrative more than it's a realistic narrative, and that's kind of what I mean. When I think of the organizations that would take that swing, one of them already just took the swing with Myles Garrett and the draft and Ty Simpson and everything else in the Rams.

I think to me they're the kind of organization that takes massive swings like that. I mean, Philly takes massive swings like that, they've got Jalen Hurts and kind of a different roster now. I don't know, I'm trying to think of the organizations. I mean San Francisco, maybe, but Brock Purdy seems to be the guy that's the future there. I'm trying to think of some of the front offices that would really take a swing like that. It would take a lot, because I doubt they would do anybody (for a trade) except the NFC. So, it's just.. I just don't see a realistic destination that would be something that actually happens.

Athlon: Let's talk about what you're doing at the American Century Championship. How long have you been doing this for?

Whitworth: Yeah, man, excited. This is the biggest day we circle all year long, all the athletes, celebrities, you name it, they get a chance to be in this. It is wild what it's grown into. I started trying to get into it probably at the very back end of my career in probably 2019 and 2020, and then finally got it in '21. It is so much fun to have this feeling of the nerves, the energy, the fans, everything about it. It is the most fun event we all play in all year, every circle that I'm in of people who are in this thing, man, it is the nerves we have.

One, we get out there, but two, all year long, hoping you get reinvited, hoping you get another opportunity to go, because obviously Lake Tahoe is a special place, but American Century does an amazing job putting on this event. It is first class, and it is a whole lot of fun, and I think, for me man, it's like every year, I start thinking about how I could be better for the next year, so I'm excited about this year, trying to handle the nerves a little better.

Athlon: What's been your best finish so far, and what is a good showing for you this year in your mind?

Whitworth: Yeah, for me it's got to be top 20, getting to the top 20. I think the thing that's really been cool to see is how good all these guys are getting. When you start thinking about it, John Smoltz, some of these guys are doing some senior PGA stuff. Mardy Fish has qualified for some PGA stuff. You got Steph Curry and different guys playing Korn Ferry. These guys can play some golf now, and I think that's one of the things that's very interesting. It's not just slapping around celebrity event, you're talking about guys shooting under par three days in a row, you're talking about really good golf, and so I think it's pretty exciting to see where that's gone.

I think for me, a couple years ago I came up one point short of being in the top 20. Josh Allen edged me out, he's a good buddy of mine, we play some golf together, and we're both at a country club together in L.A., so you know that I've always given him crap, because he took me out of the top 20, and that was my goal. But this year's full commitment, we got to be top 20, no holding back, that's the goal, man. No excuses.

Athlon: If I put you on the spot and ask you to pick a winner for this year, who do you think it's gonna be?

Whitworth: I got a hard time just because I'm at a club also with Mardy Fish, and he's a special player. It always shocks me when he doesn't win it, just because having played with him, how good he is. But Steph Curry, having this much time off because they weren't … making a playoff run, I got a feeling we're about to get a really, really good version of Steph Curry. Like how he is as a basketball player. I tell people this all the time, he's got this special ability where when the shots that need to be made, he can make them, and I've played golf with him just casually, and I played with him in this deal, and it's the same thing.

So I think that it's him and Mardy are the two guys that I think just have that ability to close and looking to see if they can do it again.

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This story was originally published June 22, 2026 at 8:37 AM.