Andrew Whitworth is among the many Rams veterans seeking his first Super Bowl ring. And at the age of 40, time is running out for him to win a championship.
In his 16th season, Whitworth is on the verge of retirement and all things considered, there would be no better time for him to walk away from football if the Rams beat the Bengals in Super Bowl LVI.
It would be his first ring, coming against the team he spent the first 11 years of his career with. He won Walter Payton Man of the Year this past week and has accomplished just about everything he could want to – outside of winning a title.
Whitworth is still undecided on whether he will retire after the season, but if the Rams win it all on Sunday, he would strongly consider hanging up his cleats and calling it a career.
“What an unreal way to walk off. I don’t think there’s anything else I would have to do,” he said, via Greg Beacham of the Associated Press.
More Whit: “I may have cried Wolf so many times that nobody will believe me when I actually do retire, but it’s gonna have to happen sometime. No decision yet. We’ll see.”
— Greg Beacham (@gregbeacham) February 11, 2022
The Rams don’t have a clear succession plan in place at left tackle, but Joe Noteboom looks like a capable replacement. The problem is, he’ll be a free agent in March, so the Rams will need to re-sign him this offseason.
Losing Whitworth to retirement would be a huge blow for the Rams, but they probably expected him to step away a few years ago after first signing him back in 2017. He’s more than exceeded expectations in Los Angeles, and the Rams are fortunate to have had him for the last five seasons.
