An article written by Melissa Whitworth, wife of former Bengals left tackle Andrew Whitworth, said the Bengals didn't "value Andrew" as much as other professional organizations did during his free agency.
"It was hurtful and felt personal," Melissa wrote in her article for the Louisiana-based Lola Magazine.
Melissa said she and Andrew really wanted to stay in Cincinnati and hoped Andrew would "finish his career where it all started..."
However, the offer from the Bengals on the first day of free agency bidding, according to Melissa, "wasn't a good offer. At all." The Los Angeles Rams, on the other hand, made, "a really solid offer. We knew they wanted him."
But they didn't rush to accept an offer on the suggestion of Pat Dye, Andrew's agent. Dye said offers would "ramp up" on day two.
Dye was right. The offers did ramp up, but not the offer from the Bengals.
Melissa asked Dye to reach out to the Bengals to see if they could make a better offer. Dye let Melissa read the response from Bengals Vice President Troy Blackburn;
We don’t have Andrew valued at that price... He is an aging left tackle. Our offer stands. It will not increase. If he chooses to leave Cincinnati, all good things must come to an end, I guess.
Even after this, Andrew wanted to stay in Cincinnati, but the Rams made an offer of $36 million for three years with $15 million guaranteed. By the end of the day, Andrew was a Ram.
When their kids found out, they were upset. Their daughter said she didn't want to move, and asked why Andrew had to leave the Bengals.
"Baby, daddy didn’t choose to leave Cincinnati," Melissa said. "They decided to let him leave. He wasn’t as important to them as we thought he would be."
