Andrew Whitworth, a 6'7, 340 pound offensive lineman, seemed like an odd choice on draft day for a team with a solid offensive line. Most pundits classified Whitworth as a possible eventual replacement for Eric Steinbach, and that's what I figured. Using a second rounder on a guy who wasn't going to make any kind of immediate impact seemed like a debatable choice to me, but at the time I also thought that building for the future is a luxury playoff teams probably have.The Whitworth selection didn't really work out the way anyone thought it would. The Bengals experienced heavy injury to their offensive line, and Whitworth was thrown into action very early in the season to replace Levi Jones at left tackle. Left tackle is the toughest position on the line, and it showed early on, but Whitworth proved a quick study. He ended up playing in every game in 2006, including 12 starts, something that I don't think anyone could have foreseen.
Whitworth had his bad moments certainly (Dwight Freeney absolutely abused him), but overall he had a very solid season for a rookie thrown into a tough situation.
My grade for Andrew Whitworth: B+
