Super Bowl 2022: Rams vs. Bengals bookends storybook career for 40-year-old Andrew Whitworth

LOS ANGELES — Andrew Whitworth is the oldest player in the NFL.

It’s a designation that may last only one game.

The 40-year-old offensive tackle for the Rams took that title when 44-year-old Tom Brady announced his retirement last week. Whitworth hasn’t made a decision on his future yet, but with his team in Super Bowl LVI on Sunday facing his former team, the Bengals, where he spent the first 11 seasons of his 16-year career, he’s been talking openly and candidly about how special an ending this could be.

"It’s like my heart is with both organizations. I’ve put my heart and soul into both places," Whitworth said this week. "To be in this moment and enjoying it and taking it all in, it’s almost like a storybook to have this opportunity for what could possibly, at my age, be my last game. It couldn’t be more special to me and my whole family."

He’s been around so long and made such an impact on a generation of players that this season he faced Lions rookie linebacker Derrick Barnes, who grew up just outside Cincinnati and was mentored by Whitworth as a 10-year-old at a local Boys & Girls Club there.

"It's neat for me to go out on the football field and most weeks I’m facing some 22-, 26-, 28-year-old defensive end who thinks that nothing can faze him," Whitworth said. "When they get hit, they feel fine . . . And I'm going out there, just trying to put my body together enough to make it through the game and still get my job done. That's so much fun."

There are some things he is looking forward to in retirement. He said he wants to be able to clap back at Rams coach Sean McVay, who, at 36, is four years younger than him but also his boss.

"If I do end up retiring after this game, that may be one of the first things I'll enjoy the most is I get to fire back a little bit at the boss man," Whitworth said.

He also is getting a little tired of the old jokes, though he sees them as a badge of honor.

One thing he does seem to enjoy about his longevity in the league is being able to pass knowledge and inspiration onto a next generation of players. One of them is Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow.

In December 2020 when Whitworth was recovering from a torn MCL and Burrow a torn ACL, the two LSU products spent some time together at Whitworth’s home. Burrow had his surgery performed by Rams team physician Neal El Attrache and was in Los Angeles for a good portion of his rehab.

"I had him over on a Sunday, the old man on crutches and the young man on crutches," Whitworth said. "Had a good meal and spent the whole day together watching football games. It was really fun."

It sparked a genuine friendship. They wound up watching games together regularly and even celebrated their birthdays at Whitworth’s home; one of them his 39th and the other his 24th.

"That was kind of a cool thing that he did for me, reaching out to me and making the rehab process a little easier," Burrow said. "Being in California, away from a lot of people who were close to me, he kind of took me in and we had some good times hanging out, watching football, and talking about the Bengals and LSU and all that. So he’s become a good friend."

When the Rams won the NFC title last week, Burrow was one of the first people Whitworth texted.

"I said: ‘Who would have thought hanging out in that room, you and I last December, that here we are both playing in the Super Bowl a year later,’ " Whitworth said. "It was neat for us to have a moment like that and cultivate a relationship I think will continue for a long while."

And it’s just another reason why Super Bowl LIV will feel like a victory for Whitworth no matter who actually wins the game. Possibly his last game.

"Man, if it is it," Whitworth said, "it would be one heck of a way to end it."

By Tom Rock

tom.rock@newsday.com@TomRock_Newsday

Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.