Andrew Whitworth addresses NFL future following Super Bowl

Could 16-year NFL veteran Andrew Whitworth be considering retirement after the Super Bowl? The 40-year-old Los Angeles Rams offensive tackle seems to be considering it.

“If it is it, man, what a heck of a way to end it,’ Whitworth said.

It would be the perfect way to end his career in the sense that the two teams he’s played for in his NFL career, the Rams and Bengals, are squaring off to decide Super Bowl 56 Sunday evening at SoFi Stadium.

If the Rams win, Whitworth gets the ring that escaped him in 2019. If the Bengals win, he gets to see the team that drafted him and the city he spent 11 years in celebrate a Super Bowl for the first time in franchise history. Obviously Whitworth wants to win the game and be able to call himself a Super Bowl champion, but it’s really a win-win situation for him.

Younger players dream of playing in the Super Bowl and getting that ring to cement their legacy early on and then let the pieces fall where they may. Veterans like Whitworth dream of being able to retire and having their final game be the one that etched their name in history as a champion.

This will be Whitworth’s 240th NFL game, which is an impressive feat but when you take into account that he’ll be making history the second he takes the field for his first snap Sunday night. He will become the oldest offensive linemen to ever play in a Super Bowl at 40 years old.

Whitworth’s place in NFL history is a reflection of an incredible career that began with his Super Bowl opponent. Whitworth was selected by the Bengals in the second round of the 2006 NFL Draft, and played for Cincinnati until the end of the 2016 season. In 2017, Whitworth joined the Rams and became an instant piece of their playoff hopes. After suffering an MCL injury at the end of 2020, he has recovered fully and now has a chance at a championship.

The company that Whitworth will join after playing Sunday is an incredible one. He’ll be joining Tom Brady and Jerry Rice as the three oldest non-specialists to ever play in the big game. The duo have two of the most incredible Hall of Fame resumes in NFL history, and while Whitworth’s career may not have the accolades it is impressive enough to see him last as long as he has at the highest level.

In Whitworth’s case, a Super Bowl victory may be a deciding accolade on whether or not he will finish his career with Hall of Fame aspirations.