Four days after the XFL shut its doors in April 2020, standout offensive tackle Storm Norton signed with the LA Chargers. Norton thrived in his short-lived XFL career and alongside Donald Parham, it looked like the Chargers picked up two quality players from the XFL.
Norton was nothing more than a backup in his first season that periodically got playing time but was not all that consequential. There were five games in his first season in which Norton logged a decent number of snaps and for the most part, he played quite well. It looked like the Chargers landed themselves a decent depth tackle.
That all changed in 2021. Bryan Bulaga could not outrun his injury issues and Norton was tasked with being the starting right tackle for most of the season. The results were not great as Norton was one of the worst tackles, if not the worst, in the entire sport. It all came to a head in Week 18 when Maxx Crosby absolutely terrorized Norton on the right side.
Fast forward to this season and Norton has once again been awful in the few chances he got. That lead the Chargers to start rookie Jamaree Salyer over him in place of Rashawn Slater. It has also given Foster Sarell a chance to play over Norton at right tackle. With Norton being inactive in Week 12 and the Chargers elevating a different tackle for Week 13, it appears that the team may have finally given up on the former XFL standout.
#Chargers have elevated OT Zack Bailey from the practice squad for tomorrow’s game vs. Raiders.
— Daniel Popper (@danielrpopper) December 3, 2022
The Chargers are not trusting Storm Norton anymore.
Storm Norton has burned the Chargers one too many times to the point where a practice squad player is getting favor over him. This does not guarantee that Zach Bailey would get snaps over Norton if it came to it. But with how the team has operated, it would be shocking if they elevated him simply to turn to Norton in the case of an injury.
The Chargers very obviously don't trust Norton on either side of the offensive line, hence why they played their rookie left guard at left tackle over him as well as a practice squad tackle over him. This is just another example of the team asking someone else to step up.
Which raises the question: why is Norton even on the roster? If you are not going to trust him to ever play then his spot on the roster is simply wasteful. That is especially true when there are guys like Tarell Basham available to be signed that would really help the Chargers right now.
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But hey, at least Chargers fans can be happy at the fact that they are not going to have to see Norton allowing far too many pressures on Justin Herbert. That is a win.