Bengals, Rams comparison from Andrew Whitworth is eye-opening
· Yahoo Sports
Cincinnati Bengals great Andrew Whitworth has seen it all throughout the course of his NFL career.
Literally, just the simple fact of going from the Bengals to the Los Angeles Rams is a good example, given the highs and lows each franchise has enjoyed over the years.
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As such, it’s always interesting to hear Whitworth talk about his time in the NFL and the current-day Bengals.
Speaking with Kelsey Conway of the Cincinnati Enquirer, Whitworth was asked if he thought the Bengals would benefit by going more all-in for winning in the present like the Rams:
“The same picks are coming every year no matter what. That’s kind of my point. At what time do you go, Hey, listen, we've done it one way for forever. What does it really hurt? Like in reality, what does it really hurt to take a couple swings, even though it's not the way we've always done it, take a couple swings and show that we're willing to, like, think about it. Every now and then, man, let's just get up there and take a big swing.”
The Rams are infamous for their disregard of the cap and draft picks. The results speak for themselves.
Comparisons like these are why some Bengals fans got so frustrated during the team’s aggressive trip to free agency when they found out that the front office did some odd things with contract structures.
Eating bigger-than-necessary cap hits right now to retain flexibility in future years (flexibility some would argue never actually gets used) hasn’t produced big results.
At the end of the day, Whitworth’s right: What harm would it do to take a gamble or two and sacrifice a little bit of the future in a desperate attempt to win now?
And the kicker? If the Bengals won’t do it during the Joe Burrow era, will they ever?
This article originally appeared on Bengals Wire: Bengals, Rams comparison from Andrew Whitworth is eye-opening