Former Cincinnati Bengals offensive tackle Andrew Whitworth believes the team should have moved Tee Higgins last season. The former four-time Pro Bowler and current Thursday Night Football analyst explains why the Bengals should have traded Higgins, who is currently on a one-year franchise tag, or Ja'Marr Chase, who is on the final year of his rookie deal, last year.
“People are probably not going to like it, I thought the Bengals should have moved him or Ja'Marr Chase last year,” says Whitworth on behalf of his new podcast with Ryan Fitzpatrick, Fitz & Whit, a Wave Sports + Entertainment Original. “If you look at who the Bengals are — and I played there for 11 years — they are really successful when they draft insanely well. When those draft picks mature, they usually have to dip. Because they can't afford to pay them all, they won't pay them all, and there's always somebody that is going to have to leave.”
The Bengals are in a precarious position where they risk losing their top two receivers next offseason. Whitworth further explains how Cincinnati could have stockpiled draft picks in a potential Higgins or Chase trade, which would give them the ability to further build out their roster for the next few years.
“I would almost say in some of those situations, even though they hit that home run, it's better to go maximize that guy's trade value, keep one and re-draft and have a bunch of picks that if we can hit on,” says Whitworth. “Now we're increasing our chances because we know that's how we like to build our team. It increases our chances by having more picks to hit on a couple more and that's going to make us that much better.”
Whitworth — who played for the Bengals from 2006 until 2016 — says that since Cincinnati already knew they were going to pay Joe Burrow a lot of money (they signed him to a $275 million contract extension in 2023), they should have started prepping for the future by trading one of their two receivers.
“They almost have to kind of think some guys that they draft and are great players, they have to pick and choose and start building for the next two to three years,” says Whiteworth. “You're not keeping them all. And you knew you were keeping Burrow. You say don't trade away a great player, that's how you have to kind of think if you're them, since all we want to do is build through the draft. And we're not a team that wants to spend a lot of money in free agency.”
Andrew Whitworth calls the Za'Darius Smith trade
While the Bengals may have moved past the point of trading Higgins considering they're in the thick of the AFC playoff race at 4-5, Andrew Whitworth believed there was one notable name who could be moved by the NFL trade deadline by Tuesday and he was correct, as the Detroit Lions traded for Cleveland Browns linebacker Za'Darius Smith. The three-time Pro Bowler will help fill the void left over by Aidan Hutchinson's season-ending injury.
“I look at the Lions and say, you lost Aiden Hutchinson, great football team, will you make that last-second desperation move again? Is it Za'Darius Smith and whatever it takes? I don't know,” says Whitworth. “I think with their leadership, we're going to trust what we got, we're going to build off what we're doing.
“I'd be shocked to see one of these top teams really give away a bunch to make that move,” Whitworth continues to say. “Za'Darius Smith is the one guy I'm looking at. He's the guy somebody's going to try to get just because of the Browns situation. I don't think they'd want to get rid of him at all, but I think their situation, they may say it's worth the move. He's the guy.”
Whitworth on what Fitz And Whit podcast is about
Andrew Whitworth's new show, Fitz and Whit, releases new episodes every Monday on Spotify, Apple, and YouTube. The podcast involves him and his former Bengals teammate, Fitzpatrick, talk about a variety of NFL topics along with their own experiences as longtime veterans in the league.
“I think our podcast — it's not about celebrating ourselves — as much as I think being who we are,” says Whitworth. “We've led locker rooms for a long time. I played 16 years, Fitz played 17 years. We both have huge families, we faced the everyday challenge of playing in the NFL. We just want to cover all of that and all the friends, coaches, players, that we made over that time.”
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