This was going to be complicated.When the Los Angeles Rams beat the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship, Melissa and Andrew Whitworth knew the two weeks leading up to Super Bowl 56 would be full of emotions. Happy ones, for sure – LA was going to the Super Bowl – but there were also a lot of feels for what Cincinnati had done and for the city that he loved for 11 years.It wasn’t just that Andrew, now 40, would be playing in what could be his final game in the NFL against the team that drafted him and started his NFL career. It was that this was where the couple moved, just after the 2006 NFL Draft, when they were not yet married, trying to build their new together life. On Thursday, Andrew was named this year’s recipient of the NFL’s prestigious Walter Payton Man of the Year award for his community service work and excellence in the game. In his acceptance speech, Andrew clearly referenced his work in Cincinnati, specifically at the Boys and Girls Clubs here.More:Three keys: How the Bengals can beat the Rams in Super Bowl 56“We loved Cincinnati,” Melissa said. “We loved where we lived. We loved the people there, the fan base.”Melissa and Andrew had four children here, knew all the best dining spots, saw a lot of people through hard times through Andrew’s charity work. But the NFL is a hard business sometimes and the Bengals opted not to re-sign Andrew in 2016. He became a free agent.The Rams, meanwhile, had just hired a 30-year-old offensive-minded head coach in Sean McVay and were looking to add a veteran offensive lineman to their team. McVay studied the film and was almost surprised his new team would have a chance to acquire a player of Andrew’s caliber. Five seasons later, Los Angeles’s head coach still believes his team got the better end of the deal being able to sign him.More:Scouting the Bengals through the eyes of Cris Collinsworth“There had never been a player of his caliber that probably had been playing as well as he played with the amount of experience that he accumulated over the course of his career,” McVay said Thursday. “So, it was kind of unprecedented to pay a player of his experience level, even though his play was definitely meriting the type of contract he received. Everyone was in alignment with it and we got the better end of the deal.McVay continues: "If you knew what a great player he’d be, what an impact he has on our team, on me and everybody he touches. He had a huge impact on the Bengals in a positive way. We talk about how great leaders in their purest forms make people and situations that they are a part of better and that’s exactly what this guy does.”What he does is so good, he and McVay are now in their second Super Bowl together.And yet, you should know that one of the first people Andrew reached out to following the Rams’ victory in the NFC Championship was Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor. They spent two seasons together in Los Angeles when Taylor was a member of McVay’s staff from 2017-18 as Andrew’s career with the Rams was just beginning.More:‘I’m so happy for him’: Sean McVay offers praise of Bengals’ Zac Taylor ahead of AFC Championship game“It's really cool and really special, having a relationship with a lot of the staff over there and some players,” Andrew said this week.And his heart was still, in many ways, with the city he used to call home.“The city is a special place to us. I told Zac Taylor this when we spoke that both places have my heart and people I believe in. It's really special to play in this game and to play against a (team) that means so much to me."More:Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase win Comeback Player of the Year, Offensive Rookie of the Year awardsIt would be hard to script a better ending for the Whitworth family. Especially if Andrew chooses to retire following the season. To be on the field with all that familiarity, all those memories and all that their family has done and seen in their time in the NFL.Don’t misunderstand. They are happy where they are and where they’ve been.More:How Bengals' Tee Higgins accomplished his biggest personal goal for the 2021 seasonWe loved it there and we never wanted to leave,” Melissa said. “We fought hard to stay there. Coming here was such an adjustment and yet it was exactly where we are supposed to be. And so as hard as that was and at the time as hurtful as it was, we would not change a thing.”“My emotions right now are just we’re so grateful that we’re here,” Melissa said. “I’m grateful he has this opportunity in the twilight of his career. I’m grateful my kids are old enough to understand it.” Source link
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