Andrew Whitworth may not be the most popular Bengals free agent lineman after all. Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer talked to multiple teams, and nearly all of those front offices expressed interest in Bengals offensive guard Kevin Zeitler (Twitter link).
Meanwhile, Glazer notes that Whitworth has also drawn plenty of interest, although the Bengals front office did a nice job convincing teams that they’d ultimately re-sign the veteran. Whitworth is currently trying to convince these potential suitors that a return to Cincinnati is not guaranteed.
The fact that Whitworth is a popular name shouldn’t be too surprising, as he ranked atop our list of the best available offensive tackles. The 35-year-old has spent his entire 11-year career in Cincinnati, starting 164 of his 168 games. The lineman has only missed a pair of regular season games since the start of the 2009 season.
Zeitler was listed as the top available guard in our rankings, and Zach Links projected him to earn the fifth-largest contract this offseason. The former first-rounder has started 71 games during his five-year career.