Since 2022, Andrew Whitworth has become a beloved Thursday Night Football analyst on Amazon Prime Video. He’s a natural in front of the camera now, but that wasn’t always the case.
Whitworth appeared on the latest episode of South Beach Sessions with Dan Le Batard for a wide-ranging conversation. To start, Le Batard pointed out that Whitworth “had a decent relationship” with the media during his revered 16-year NFL playing career.
“I think my only one run-in, which we’ve played with a little bit at one of our Amazon seminars one year, is I had my cheeks on the camera one time,” Whitworth said. “I remember my wife was not real excited about it. That was early in my career. It was one of those postgame interviews, where everybody’s in there butt-naked, and I think I was in the background of an interview. That was a fun moment.”
Indeed, in October 2015, NFL Network aired a naked Whitworth, then an offensive tackle for the Cincinnati Bengals, and several of his naked teammates in the background of Albert Breer’s locker room interview with Adam “Pacman” Jones. NFL network later apologized for the “regrettable mistake.”
“I was standing behind [Jones], just back there [with] big ol’ white cheeks,” Whitworth told Le Batard. “My high butt self I am. My giraffe legs. So, that’s my only run-in.”
Whitworth then segued into the ripple effect of more positive encounters with reporters .
“I can honestly say this: when people ask me why I’m doing media now, it was because of that relationship,” Whitworth said. “As I played, I never thought of it. Literally, when I retired, it wasn’t even on my mind that I would do media stuff.”
Whitworth continued:
“Maybe two years out before I retired, Fox had asked me to come and just meet with them one time. I actually turned down the opportunity that they offered, just because I didn’t see myself that way.
“But when I retired and thought, What do I do next?, I had so many encounters while I played with the local TV guys or a young lady interviewing me from a newspaper or with a news station. They would end it and go, ‘You gotta be on TV when you’re done playing.’ I would never really know why they would say it or anything, but it always kind of was just in my mind. So, when I got done, I just remembered how many times somebody told me that.”
Whitworth starred for the Bengals from 2006 to 2016 before signing with the Los Angeles Rams in 2017. The two-time All-Pro and four-time Pro Bowler went out on top, retiring immediately after the Rams won Super Bowl LVI victory in February 2022.
Like any retired athlete, Whitworth initially had trouble identifying as anything other than an athlete. But now, he told Le Batard, he’s fully embracing his role in the media.
“We’re in Year 5 doing this, [so] I guess I have to stop saying that I’m not a media guy because now it’s official,” Whitworth said. “I mean, at this point, you are actually a media guy. You know what? That’s the hard part, calling myself a media guy. Not because it’s, like, derogatory.
“I think when you get done playing, you think of yourself only as an athlete who’s getting a chance to say a couple of things. And then you realize, No, this is actually what I do now. I enjoy it. It’s been fun. I have a lot of pride now in saying, ‘I am a media guy.'”
Whitworth and Ryan Fitzpatrick, his TNF teammate, premiere Season 3 of their Fitz & Whit podcast on Thursday. Then, on Sept. 17, the NFL on Prime crew will be in Buffalo when the Buffalo Bills welcome the Detroit Lions for the first TNF broadcast of the 2026 NFL season. See the full schedule here.
About Megan Armstrong
Since first getting published as a student by the Kansas City Star in 2013, Megan Armstrong has gone wherever curiosity and stories have taken her, specializing in sports, media, music, and culture coverage. She also has an extensive background in interviewing and profiling public figures. Her work has appeared in Billboard, Boardroom, Bleacher Report, Esquire, GQ, GRAMMY.com, NYLON, Newsweek, Teen Vogue, The Hollywood Reporter, UPROXX, and elsewhere.