Rams Super Bowl Champion and Walter Payton Man of the Year Award winner Andrew Whitworth is on the show, chatting with Jared Quay about the celebrities who come out of the woodwork after you win the Big Game, which way he’s leaning with respect to retiring from the NFL, why Odell Beckham Jr. joining the Rams felt like destiny and his commitment to giving back to the community in various ways through his foundation Big Whit 77 and the Rams organization.

View more

Video Transcript

ANDREW WHITWORTH: Well, I think what's really cool for me with Odell is that, for years, him and I have talked in the offseasons about him becoming a Ram. I can literally remember in 2018, at our Super Bowl there, against the Patriots, I literally-- ran into him, and he jumped on me, gave me a big hug. And he was like, I've got to be a Ram. I can't-- I-- you've got to make this happen.

JARED QUAY: What's up, everybody? I'm here with Walter Payton Man of the Year and Super Bowl 56 champion, Andrew Whitworth. Man, you added a lot of accolades to the resumé in the last two weeks. How crazy has that been?

ANDREW WHITWORTH: It's been a whirlwind, man. It's-- I'm trying to figure out what day it is right now. It just seems like, every day, there's something new. It's been unbelievable.

Couldn't be more grateful and happy, and it's been, just, a lot of fun. I can say that.

JARED QUAY: You know, who's the most famous person to be like, congrats on being a Super Bowl champion?

ANDREW WHITWORTH: Well, I'll tell you this. Like, me and-- for instance, Tom Brady and I, like, really never really had much interaction. We [INAUDIBLE] playing in New England, outside of the Super Bowl. We played against them, which-- you don't really see the other team much.

And he was one of the first people that reached out over Instagram and sent me a message, just congratulating me.

- Ooh, fancy.

ANDREW WHITWORTH: The rest of them are kind of some guys that I've had a run-in here there at some point in life-- ran across, like Jamie Foxx, different guys like that.

JARED QUAY: Oh! [LAUGHS]

ANDREW WHITWORTH: You know, like-- you know, Jamie actually lives close to me, so we kind of ran each other a couple of times before. But it was just cool, some of those guys reaching out and saying, congratulations, and what it means to you to just realize how special it is.

JARED QUAY: Are we coming back to play a 17th season? Or are we going to take that ring and ride off into the sunset?

ANDREW WHITWORTH: You know, I thought about both. And it's-- it's going to be a tough decision. I'm trying to give it as much time as I can, obviously, the next two weeks. You know, it's not going to be much, but I guess two to three weeks before the NFL season kicks off for the next year. So there's not much time, when you play in the Super Bowl, to turn things around, so--

But I want to get as far away from the game as I can-- see where my body's at, see what the family feels like, if we want to do this again, and really make a solid decision. I mean, I think that I'm leaning towards, this is probably it. But I think you've got to get far enough away to say, all right, how do I really feel? Do I want to get back to train and the commitment level it takes to play at a high level? Am I ready to sign up for that or not?

JARED QUAY: All right, I want you to come back. So you got to delete Tom Brady's number because I don't want no influences-- [LAUGHS]

ANDREW WHITWORTH: Yeah, he gave me my two weeks to shine. He announced he was going to retire just in time to give me two weeks to be the old guy. And I really appreciate it but he can have that back, if he wants it.

- What a guy.

JARED QUAY: One of your teammates that won a Super Bowl with you, Odell Beckham, Jr, just announced the birth of his first child and that he had successful surgery to repair his ACL. First, what's your experience with having Odell as a teammate? And second, what advice do you give him as being a first-time father?

ANDREW WHITWORTH: Well, I think what's really cool for me with Odell is that, for years, him and I have talked in the offseason about him becoming a Ram. He's always kind of wanted to be out here and play out here. He-- he's here in the off seasons, and a lot of guys run in to him then.

And so it's been really cool that, both being LSU guys, we've had interaction about playing together. And then I can literally remember, in 2018, at our Super Bowl there against the Patriots, I went to the NFLPA event because I had won the Alan Page award.

And I literally-- ran into him, and he jumped on me, gave me a big hug. And he was like, I've got to be a Ram. I can't-- you've got to make this happen.

And here we are, three years later, playing in a Super Bowl together, enjoying this moment. It's been so unbelievable, so cool to see him get to go through this, and for us to be together through it. I couldn't be happier for him.

And then, now, with the birth of his first child-- just unbelievable, man. I think my advice to him would be, you're never going to feel more tired or more thankful and grateful, ever, in your life, and just embrace and enjoy every moment of it, because that is an unbelievable feeling, becoming a father. And-- and I hope he-- I hope he enjoys every second of it.

JARED QUAY: Off the field, you've been giving your time and money to different communities across the country, through the Big Whit 77 foundation. In the last year, you focused on housing. Why did you zero in on that?

ANDREW WHITWORTH: I think, really, in my time you throughout the league, it's been stuff I've done in Louisiana, Cincinnati, and here in LA. And I try to just find different areas, communities that I can meet them where they are.

I think, being here in LA and really realizing some of the homelessness there is here and home insecurity there is here in LA-- it's been heartbreaking, and it's tough to see. And so for me and my family, we got a chance to do a home-- home walk for LA, back, a couple of years ago.

And my kids got to go. We got to go walk and kind of go through the homelessness area in downtown LA and really get a chance to see them and talk to our kids about it and let them understand a little bit about it. And as a family, we kind of made a decision that we want to get involved. And so that's really what we try to stress the last few years-- is-- is of all the other things we love to do, too, making that a priority of something that we were going to make a difference with.

JARED QUAY: You have a favorite project that you've been a part of? I mean, something that really stands out?

ANDREW WHITWORTH: I think, to me, one of my favorites-- obviously, I've gotten to do a lot of cool things. I mean, last year, we got to do some amazing things in the social justice arena. Me and some of the other leaders on the team and a couple of guys joined up and put in money together to our own player-led fund, that we went and kind of supported different groups throughout LA that are trying to move that needle. And that was just an amazing experience, to see how what special people are out there and the stuff they're doing.

But the one probably that hits the closest to home is-- my son Michael actually came up with an idea for how to help people in homeless shelters, where he wanted to-- at that time, he was a huge Santa believer, and still is. But--

JARED QUAY: [LAUGHS]

ANDREW WHITWORTH: --he-- he thought that the cure to homelessness was if we could give every homeless person a piece of paper and a pencil so they could write a letter to Santa and ask for what they needed. And I thought it was just so precious.

So I asked him-- I said, do you want to give, you know, a homeless shelter Christmas, and he's like, I'd love to. So we-- we did an event where we combined a bunch of homeless shelters, got those families a chance to write down what their kids would love for Christmas. And Melissa and I gifted the parents something on our own. And we got the kids' lists filled.

And we held a big dinner for them and sang Christmas carols with them. We got all the families to come down and get their presents. And it was just an unbelievable night, unbelievable experience for my kids to be at the lead of it. It was really, really special for our family because we truly believe that, you know--

The influence we have on our children and the circle that we live in is one of the first steps to truly committing to community service because the servants they become will be a direct reflection of our community and our area, and the kids we raise.

JARED QUAY: Well, Andrew, man, thank you for coming on here in and rushing me today, man. Congrats on the championship, man. Thank you for all your service you did to become the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award, man. And I hope to have you back on here after you win the Super Bowl next year, man. So let's put that into the air right now.

ANDREW WHITWORTH: I like where your head's at, Jared. I appreciate that, man. It's a lot of fun, bro. I appreciate the opportunity to visit today, and I look forward to doing it again.

Close