Former Cincinnati Bengals offensive tackle Andrew Whitworth recently made an appearance on the appropriately named Rich Eisen Show to speak about a plethora of issues.
Sandwiched between talk of Matthew Stafford, Joe Burrow, beard grooming, and Rich Eisen coffee mugs was the subject of NFL teams drafting players’ replacements in the wake of the Los Angeles Rams using a first-round pick to draft Matthew Stafford’s heir-apparent, Ty Simpson.
Whitworth drew on his own experience of the situation to discuss what Stafford is going through. Specifically, the Hall of Fame lineman picked at a surprisingly still open wound from the 2015 NFL Draft.
Yes, it still hurts and haunts to this day.
The disaster that was the Bengals' 2015 NFL Draft
In discussing the 2015 draft from his perspective, Whitworth explained to Stafford that drafting players’ eventual replacements is a normal part of the NFL. Unfortunately, those details led him back to a time in Bengals history in which Duke Tobin and his staff went completely off the rails.
“In 2015, I had asked for an extension from the Cincinnati Bengals. Didn’t get any feedback about whether that was an option or not. I was going into the last year of my deal there… the week of the draft, I got asked by the media, and I dared the Bengals to draft a tackle. I said, if you draft a left tackle, they’re going to watch me play for four years. So I dare you to do it.”
Well, Bengals fans know what happened after that. The front office, in its infinite wisdom, had one of the worst drafts in franchise history, leading to one of the most lukewarm reactions to a draft pick you’ll hear and, to this day, the most unhinged, and to quote Jay-Z, “We don’t believe you, you need more people” press conferences from Paul Alexander that have ever existed.
Whitworth went on to say, “They didn’t just draft a left tackle, Rich. They drafted a first-round left tackle and a second-round left tackle. So they drafted two. The first time in NFL history, they drafted back-to-back tackles. They took my threat seriously, but guess what, those guys watched me play for seven more years.”
Not only did we watch Whitworth play for seven more years, but we also got an up-close-and-personal view of him winning the Super Bowl against the Bengals.
Meanwhile, in Cincinnati, the offensive line was so bad after Whitworth left that it almost literally broke Andy Dalton, who led the Bengals to five consecutive playoff appearances.
Their second-round pick that year, former Oregon tackle Jake Fisher, played from 2015 until 2018 with 12 starts. How he managed to do that for so long with so many starts is beyond comprehension.
After leaving Cincy, Fisher had tryouts as an offensive lineman with the Bills. He also tried to convert his long arms and athleticism to play tight end, but to no avail. Ogbuehi managed to stick around the league for much longer, landing in various spots with Jacksonville, Seattle, Baltimore, and the New York Jets.
As the team’s offensive line went downhill, so did any chances of fielding a competitive team. It was also the beginning, or continuation, of a behind-the-scenes power struggle that eventually cost everyone their jobs, except for Duke Tobin.
But that was then, and this is now.
Bengals offensive line finally respectable again (knock on wood)
Fast forward to the present timeline, and Cincinnati’s offensive line is in better shape than it was back when Ogbuehi took over. But it was a long time in the making.
Even after Joe Burrow arrived in Cincinnati, the organization has struggled to provide him with adequate protection. Some of us were worried that Burow would go the way of Dalton or Andrew Luck after taking so many sacks and suffering numerous injuries early in his career.
Much like with the defensive line this offseason, yet more quietly, the Bengals eventually punted on the idea of identifying talent along the offensive line in the draft.
Three-fifths of their 2026 starting offensive line were free agent acquisitions. Only first-round pick Amarius Mims and third-rounder Dylan Fairchild were "homegrown" pickups.
We laud this group of Burrow’s bodyguards as the best offensive line that he has had during his career. While that is superb, the bar could not have been that much lower.
Bengals 2015 draft one of the worst, ever
The 2015 draft was historically bad for several reasons. At a time when the Bengals should have been trying to acquire talent to get an elusive playoff victory, they spent their first two picks on succession plans.
Unfortunately, not only was their planning bad, but so was their scouting process, which led them to believe those players were the ones they should use to execute their horrific strategy.
One of their epic draft picks that year was Josh Shaw, who many praised as a hero after damaging his ankle for jumping off a balcony to save a family member from drowning, which, cue Maury Povich, turned out to be a lie.
The best player from that draft class was fourth-round tight end CJ Uzomah, who played seven seasons for the Bengals and was the only member of the 2015 class around for Cincinnati’s 2021 Super Bowl run.
Uzomah last played in 2024, when he won a Super Bowl with the Eagles.
As much as longtime Bengals fans try to forget about that cluster-mess, every once in a while, like nickelback, Whitworth is there to remind us.
Appreciate you, Whit.
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