What does Andrew Norwell bring to the Washington Commanders?

Taking a closer look at the Commander’s new starting left guard.

The Washington Commanders made their first move of free agency by signing guard Andrew Norwell. Norwell was an undrafted free agent in 2014 and signed with the Carolina Panthers, where Ron Rivera and Offensive Line Coach John Matsko, both now in Washington, developed him into a quality starting guard. Norwell then signed a big free agent contract with the Jaguars, where he has spent the last four seasons. 

The Commanders created a need at guard by surprisingly releasing starting left guard Ereck Flowers on Wednesday. Flowers carried a heavy cap hit and many expected Washington to extend him to lower that hit, but the team was able to create cap room by outright cutting him. Norwell should be a relatively seamless replacement for Flowers at left guard, given his history with this coaching staff, but at presumably less cost (as of writing, his contract details have yet to be made public).

So are the Commanders losing anything in terms of on-field production by switching from Flowers to Norwell? Let's take a closer look: 

Run Game

In the run game, Norwell suits Washington’s preferred zone scheme. He’s perhaps not quite as athletic as Flowers was, but he’s not a slouch either. He’s very much capable of generating movement on zone scheme runs.

On this play against the Seahawks, the Jaguars run a wide zone scheme to the left. The Seahawks have a three-technique defensive tackle aligned in the B gap to Norwell’s outside shoulder. Off the snap, Norwell reaches across to get his helmet level with the chest of the defender, preventing him from penetrating. Then Norwell uses his right arm to help generate movement, driving the defender outside the hashmarks. The defender technically does his job towards the end of the rep by filling the B gap, but the zone scheme is all about generating movement to create opportunities for the runner to cut back and Norwell created plenty of movement on this play.

As a guard in the zone scheme, Norwell has to be ready to work up to the second level and take on linebackers instead of just working against defensive lineman. That’s not an issue for him though.

Here, we see another zone run but this time against the Bills. The Bills walk up linebacker Tremaine Edmunds into Norwell’s gap. Norwell gets off the snap quickly and engages early with Edmunds. He gets his right hand under the left armpit of the linebacker while working to set his left hand on the linebacker's chest. From that position, Norwell is able to lock on to the block and begin driving his feet to walk Edmunds backwards and away from the running back.

Norwell fits the zone scheme runs that Washington uses as the foundation of its run scheme, but Offensive Coordinator Scott Turner does mix in some other schemes to maintain some balance. One scheme he likes to mix in every now and then is a trap scheme, which Norwell has shown he’s capable of running.

Trap scheme runs are nice counter punches designed to catch a defensive tackle by surprise. Here, Norwell executes the trap scheme perfectly. He comes off the snap looking like he’s ready to block the defensive tackle in front of him. However, just as the defender looks to engage in the block, Norwell takes a shuffle step to avoid him while clubbing him with his right hand. That knocks the defender off-balance, allowing the right guard to pull from the other side of the line and surprise him with the trap block. Norwell then works up to the second level to engage with a linebacker. Unfortunately other blocks failed to hold up, but Norwell performed his part well. 

In terms of gap scheme runs, Norwell is effective but perhaps lacks the power that Flowers possessed when pulling to kick out an edge defender.

This is a basic counter scheme run with Norwell pulling to the right side of the line to kick out the edge defender. The defender reads the play well and immediately looks to work down the line to squeeze the gap. Norwell does his job, pulling and blocking the defender, preventing him from working inside and providing a lane for the running back. But it wasn’t the authoritative block that some pulling guards have where they bulldoze the defender to the ground. We saw Ereck Flowers do that at times last season and Norwell’s block lacked that same power, but he still managed to accomplish what was required of him on the play.

As a run blocker, Flowers probably offered a little more power and athleticism than Norwell, but Norwell isn’t bad in either area. He’s fundamentally pretty sound and understands how to use his technique to help accomplish his assignment. He fits the run scheme well and his history with Matsko, who helped develop him from an undrafted free agent into one of the better guards in the league when he signed with the Jaguars in free agency, should make him a solid run blocker in Washington.

Pass Protection