In late April, tackle Andrew Whitworth made it known that he didn’t want the Bengals to draft his successor. Days later, Cincy drafted tackles in both round one and in round two. Now, with his future more uncertain that ever, Whitworth is being vocal about his desire for an extension and is frustrated with the lack of dialogue on that front so far, Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com writes.
“At the end of the day, I am the captain and leader and I want to go above and beyond and do more than the average guy in this locker room and have always,” he said. “It’s hard to do that when that feeling is not reciprocated and is just a one way street. We’d like you to prepare two guys to be really good football players, we’d like you to be the leader of football team, but we’d also like to have the best situation possible for us. We’ll talk to you when we want to.”
With Texas A&M tackle Cedric Ogbuehi and Oregon tackle Jake Fisher now in the fold, Whitworth is entering his walk year and wants a new pact to reflect his contributions, both on the field and in the locker room. Last year, Whitworth was rated as the second-best tackle in the NFL by the advanced metrics at Pro Football Focus (subscription required). The 33-year-old is also regarded as the Bengals’ locker room leader, but he’s now using his booming voice to let the world know that he’s unhappy with his contract situation.