Getty Andrew Norwell could be a free agent target for the Bears to boost the interior depth of their offensive line.
Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles said earlier this week that he was “not too concerned” about the injuries keeping starting guards Teven Jenkins and Nate Davis sidelined at training camp, but their absences could still tempt him to add another veteran if he is unhappy with what Jenkins and Davis’ backups show him.
In an August 7 article, Bleacher Report’s Jack Rill suggested three “bargain free agent” targets the Bears “must pursue” with their remaining $28.4 million in 2023 cap space, listed former Washington Commanders guard Andrew Norwell at the top of his list.
Norwell, 31, is one of the most experienced interior linemen left on the market and is coming off a season in which he started 16 games at left guard for the Commanders, yielding four sacks and 29 pressures on a career-high 1,120 blocking snaps. He has also played nearly 8,500 career snaps at both guard spots, which is experience that would be useful if the Bears ran into any in-season availability issues with Jenkins or Davis.
“While Norwell wouldn’t be a starter in Chicago, he could serve as a mentor to the youngsters ahead of him on the depth chart,” Rill wrote. “If anybody goes down, he would be a capable replacement.”
Andrew Norwell Had Career-Worst Season in 2022
The instinct for the Bears to use some of their remaining cap space on veteran offensive linemen isn’t a bad one, but Norwell might not be an ideal choice, despite his experience.
Norwell was a wild success story in the early days of his career, starting in 2014 as an undrafted rookie with the Carolina Panthers but crafting himself into a guard deserving of first-team All-Pro recognition by the end of his fourth year, in 2017. According to Pro Football Focus, he allowed zero sacks and just 13 pressures during his All-Pro season and finished as the second highest-graded pass blocker (92.1) in the league that year.
Five years later, though, Norwell was considerably less effective than he had been as a younger All-Pro. He received the lowest PFF pass-blocking (60.8) and overall (59.8) grades of his nine-year career over his 16 games for the Panthers in 2022, finishing with the second-worst run-blocking mark (59.9) of his NFL tenure as well. And while the metrics do not always line up with the tape, both certainly suggest he is in a decline.
Penalty, sack, penalty, sack: Four plays from LG Andrew Norwell, starting in the late 3rd quarter and carrying over into the 4th.
The Bears could still take an affordable flier on Norwell if he would be willing to agree to a lower price tag than he might get from other teams, but they would have to believe that fewer reps would yield stronger overall performance from him to justify an investment.
Lucas Patrick & Alex Leatherwood May Suffice Inside
One other thing that Rill conveniently ignores about Norwell and his potential fit with the Bears is that Chicago already has a few interesting options in the guard rotation — veteran Lucas Patrick and former Las Vegas first-rounder Alex Leatherwood.
Patrick was originally intended to be the Bears’ new starting center when they signed him to a two-year deal in 2022, but a broken hand in the preseason and, later on, a season-ending toe injury derailed that experiment and left his future up in the air. Now, he will have a chance to earn the top backup job for all three of their interior positions in 2023 and has proved in his past stint with the Green Bay Packers he is capable.
Patrick started 28 games for the Packers between the 2020 and 2021 seasons and allowed just four sacks on his 1,123 combined pass-blocking snaps despite spending time playing at both guard spots as well as center. Having such positional flexibility should make him a valuable asset to the Bears in 2023, even as a rotational piece.
Meanwhile, Leatherwood stepped into Jenkins’ shoes at left guard when he dropped out of practice with his injury last week and has continued to run with the ones at the position. Gone are the days of people viewing Leatherwood as a first-round talent, but he still has the physical gifts to be developed into a quality interior protection with the Bears and could give them the confidence to go into the new season without additional depth.
“Over the years, I’ve actually gone from panicking in those situations where guys aren’t practicing and you get kind of frustrated about it, whatever the circumstance is,” Poles said on August 5. “But it is also a really cool opportunity to see what the depth looks like and getting a couple of really good reps for the guys that are on the second team to insert because, again, you’re going to have injuries during the season. Guys are going to have to step up, so [let’s] get some quality reps right now in those situations.”