The Jacksonville Jaguars asked undrafted rooke Drew Nowak to switch from defensive tackle to offensive guard last week, in part because of injuries at the guard position and because of the numbers game at defensive tackle. The coaching staff liked Nowak's talent, but saw another spot for him to make the Jaguars roster. After just a few days of practice, Nowak got his first live action at the position on Friday night against the New York Giants.
"He played fifty plays the other night. He’s been a guard for five days," Jaguars head coach Mike Mularkey said on Sunday. "He wasn’t perfect. He had five mental errors but you talk about a guy that has a chance to be a player. He’s smart, he’s tough, it’s just amazing what he did."
"And he can work at center," said Mularkey.
Nowak did a nice job with his 50 snaps, moving defensive lineman around on running plays. As expected, Nowak made a few errors in pass protection, but he definitely looks like a player who can be at worst a back up interior offensive lineman with some more work at the position.