Jacksonville Jaguars: Is 2020 A “Prove It” Year For Andrew Norwell?

 With many players moving on from the Jacksonville Jaguars, left tackle Andrew Norwell must show he can play at a higher level in 2020.

The 2017 Jacksonville Jaguars had one of the best running attacks in the NFL – statistically. In reality, they had a handful of games where they ran very well with a lot of rushing yards, but more games where they were less than average. This was particularly in the second half of the season.

After the season ended the Jaguars saw a need to improve the offensive line primarily to bolster the running game. The question was how they address the need – through free agency or the NFL draft.

The Jaguars decided to sign free-agent guard Andrew Norwell from Carolina and gave him the highest ever contract for a guard.

It’s hard to fault the team for the move. After all, Norwell did not allow any sacks the entire 2017 season while playing for the Panthers and only allowed one quarterback hit. That’s a very impressive year. His play earned him All-Pro that year and he was ranked the third-best guard in the league.

The Panthers signed him in 2014 as an undrafted free agent out of Ohio State was inserted into the lineup in week 7, and started the remainder of that season as well as the three following seasons before signing with the Jaguars in 2018.

The 2018 Jaguars fans will not soon forget that year. Coming off an appearance in the 2017 AFC Championship game that many fans believed was stolen from them (“Myles Jack wasn’t down”), hopes were high in the River City as many experts across the country were picking the Jaguars to make it to the Super Bowl.

The season started off great – 3-1 – with a convincing win over the New England Patriots. Blake Bortles looked like the quarterback that was the best in the league for four straight games at the end of the previous year, Leonard Fournette was off to another good start, and the offense was balanced.

Then disaster struck.

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The offensive line was decimated by injuries and by the end of the year, only one starter, A.J. Cann,  remained. The Jaguars started five players at left tackle, which undermined the offensive line unit and left Norwell to make up for the loss of talent next to him. In week 11 he sustained an ankle injury and missed the rest of the season.

The 2019 season brought renewed hope for some Jaguars’ fans. They now had a Super Bowl MVP quarterback leading their team. Hopes again were high. And, once again, they were dashed by an injury to Nick Foles in the first game of the season.

Now, the team was relying on the offensive line to help their rookie signal-caller. But the unit struggled. left tackle Cam Robinson, returning from a season-ending knee injury, allowed pressure on the quarterback in over eight percent of passing plays, which is pretty high for a player at the position. Outside of center Brandon Linder, the offensive line didn’t perform well. Norwell didn’t play badly, but he didn’t play at the level the Jaguars expected when they signed him.

Per Sportrac, Norwell signed a 5-year, $66,500,000 contract with the Jacksonville Jaguars, including a $15,000,000 signing bonus, $30,000,000 guaranteed, and an average annual salary of $13,300,000. He is set to earn $11,500,000 in base salary while carrying a cap hit of $14,500,000 and a dead cap value of $9,000,000.

With those numbers, it’s apparent that he will be starting for the Jaguars in the 2020 season. In 2021 his salary will be $15M ($12M base), with $6M in dead money and $9M salary cap savings. How well he plays this season may determine whether he is still on the roster next season. If he plays well enough this year and is retained next year, then going into the final year of his contract, 2022, his salary will be $16M ($13M base), with $3M in dead money and $13M in cap savings.

Depending on how he and the team performs over the next two seasons, Norwell could be a salary-cap casualty before the 2022 season.

The Jaguars management has stated that they like what they have on the offensive line, and they have been high on Norwell since his arrival. The coaching staff sees things differently than fans do, and management has a plan and salary cap they work to try to put the best team they can on the field.

Norwell has been one of the least penalized offensive linemen since he’s been in the NFL. That is another factor coaches see that most fans do not. Having a quality lineman that doesn’t hurt the team with his play is a plus for any team.

Durability is another, and Norwell has proven to be durable. Once he was put into the starting lineup his rookie year, he started all 9 remaining games that year and all 16 games in three of the next five years, missing just three games in 2016 and five in 2018 due to injury. That’s 81 starts in 89 games. I’ll take that…and so will the Jaguars.

There’s no telling what will happen next season or the one after that. Jaguars management is making moves to put a competitive team on the field while managing their salary cap to have the ability to make moves to improve if there is a need.

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Will Norwell be a part of their future? I don’t know if this year is “make or break” for him or if he needs to “prove it”, but depending on how the team fares, next year is likely to be such a year.