Andrew Whitworth

[*wildcats forever*]

(12-20-2016, 02:53 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: Sure, Whit is getting up there in age, likely getting a bit tired as well.  But, to cut him loose, without having his bona fide heir apparent in place is just plain stupid.  Not only does Whit still bring a strong physical presence, but the experience and leadership are things not just easily replaced by plugging in the next guy.

And he sounds serious about sticking around for awhile. I extracted this from Hobson's front page article today:

As for Whitworth he says everyone from the front office to coaches to teammates to trainers have told him in the last days of the season that they want him back. So his gut call is he’ll be back for a 12thseason next year.

“I think so. I think they want me back,” Whitworth said after Wednesday’s practice. “But I’ve been in the league long enough to know you never know what the heck goes on. I hope I’ll be back, I know I want to be back. … I believe both things, that I want to be back and they want me to be back, and hopefully we can find a way to make that work.”

“Some of the coaches continue to give me a hard time about wanting me to play longer. Shoot, Clint or any of these guys will tell you I’ve been saying I’m going to retire for about six years,” Whitworth said. “I just love playing, man, so I don’t really think about when or where it’s going to be over. I think I’ll let my body and my play say that. So until I see a difference in that, I look forward to playing the game."


At 315 pounds Whitworth is his lightest since his freshman year at LSU. Since his early days in the NFL at 340 pounds, he has steadily dropped weight. He figures he's lost about an average of five pounds a year for the last four years to come down from about 335.
    
“I’m a huge study buff, people know that. I watch every single tackle play every single week. I go and watch guys and learn and one of the thing that I learned as a young player was watching a lot of veteran players who were really good that just were overweight that probably didn’t take care of themselves the way they could have, they could’ve played longer. That’s one of my goals. My weight has dropped every year, every season. I’ve gotten leaner and really focused on dieting and those things so I can play longer. It’s been my goal and so far it’s worked out well.”