Bengals OL Whitworth says he'd rather quit than play in London

Bengals OL Whitworth says he'd rather quit than play in London


By John Breech | CBSSports.com

June 6, 2013 5:09 pm ET


The Cincinnati Bengals aren't moving to London, but if they did, offensive lineman Andrew Whitworth wouldn't be going with them because he'd quit the team -- at least that's what he says.

"I would hope that I was financially able to quit," Whitworth said of being on a London-based team, via Joe Reedy of the Cincinnati Enquirer. "That's what I would hope. ... My papers would be the first one in."

Whitworth thinks other players feel that way, too. "I don't see that a lot of guys would want to do that," he said. "I don't see any players that would enjoy that. Sure, you may find a handful of guys that would say, 'Oh hey, that'd be cool,' but the rest of them wouldn't."

If Whitworth doesn't want to end up in England, he'd better keep his fingers crossed that the Bengals don't trade him to Jacksonville. CBS Sports NFL Insider Jason La Canfora wrote on Wednesday that the Jaguars seem like the best fit for England.

As the Jaguars team website pointed out, Jacksonville could be playing two games a season in London as soon as next year. The two games would include one home game and potentially one away game.

If Whitworth -- the Bengals NFLPA rep -- doesn't want to go to England, he'd better start working the phones now. The Bengals are scheduled to play Jacksonville in 2014. On the other hand, if the Bengals play in London in 2014, maybe Whitworth will really like it and change his tune. But probably not.

I would not retire, but that would be the last team I would want to play for. There are cities in America...like LA, that should get a team way before London does.

I do not understand all of this London faggotry. Can't Goodell move to London without taking the NFL with him if he's so gay for it?

Clay_Allison said:

I do not understand all of this London faggotry. Can't Goodell move to London without taking the NFL with him if he's so gay for it?

Click to expand...

Does he even remember that even when games were actually being played in London, the Monarchs were one of the first teams to fold? Only Frankfurt was ever able to sustain a franchise in NFLE for any length of time.

boozeman said:

Does he even remember that even when games were actually being played in London, the Monarchs were one of the first teams to fold? Only Frankfurt was ever able to sustain a franchise in NFLE for any length of time.

Click to expand...

The Rhein Fire and Berlin Thunder stayed in for a long time. Probably with mostly American military fans.

From what I understand the NFL is banking on support for the team from American's living abroad and hoping that citizens from other European countries travel to London to watch NFL football.

Idiotic assumption if you ask me. You gotta have a dedicated fan base if you're going to make a move like this.

Also, the funny thing is American Football is much bigger in Germany than it is in London. So why not target a city like Berlin rather than London? Language barrier?