TNF’s Andrew Whitworth Reveals How Ryan Fitzpatrick Maintains His Epic Beard

Andrew Whitworth came on the Rich Eisen Show to talk schedule release and the Bengals. The conversation took a detour into a far more pressing issue. Ryan Fitzpatrick, in Whitworth's telling, is running a black ops grooming operation on his beard.

Whitworth set it up casually, almost reluctantly, when Rich asked about his offseason facial hair. "I'm trying to catch Fitz right now. I saw him yesterday on a Zoom. He's gotten kind of high maintenance these days. He actually blow dries his out now and kind of uses some, yeah, he's using some styling products."

That is, on its own, news.

Whitworth knew what he was doing. He flagged it like a man unloading a secret he had been carrying. "I don't want to be the one that puts it out there, but I'm going to." The case he is building against Fitzpatrick involves more than a blow dryer. There may be, Whitworth alleged, a pressing curling iron in the picture. There are definitely styling products. "He puts off this facade of no styling. You know, he just lives free, but that's bull crap. He's styling this thing."

Then the bigger accusation, the one Whitworth said his Thursday Night Football colleague Sherman has been making for a while.

"Sherm has always said he's coloring it. I believe it, too."

Rich, in the moment, found the obvious frame. "He's juicing his beard."

Whitworth did not push back. "There's a little bit of juice in the beard going on. Sherman and I have been suspect for a little while. We'll see. We're going to get to the bottom of it this year."

The broader context is that Whitworth is trying to grow his own beard out to keep pace with Fitzpatrick. He wants the same drawn-out, pulled-out look. He is, by his own admission, getting close. The trade-off of trying to keep up with Fitz, though, is now obvious. You also have to consider the auxiliary equipment.

Rich teed it up perfectly. "If you guys start, you're going to start selling cough drops together." Two bearded Smith Brothers in waiting. Whitworth did not deny that part either.

The Fitz and Whit pod drops every Wednesday. Whether Fitzpatrick brings a comb is between him and his styling products. Whitworth told Rich the investigation continues this year. The hunt is on.

This is the kind of segment that exists because Rich and Whitworth genuinely like each other and Whitworth is incapable of being on a microphone without going somewhere unexpected. The football conversation came after. The beard conversation, for one short, glorious window, took the floor.