Former Florence High School football standout Chandler Brewer is scheduled to throw out the ceremonial first pitch for the Rocket City Trash Pandas’ season-opening game on Thursday night.

The public-address announcer also can introduce Brewer as an offensive lineman for the Jacksonville Jaguars after the NFL team announced on Wednesday that they had signed him as an unrestricted free agent.

MORE NFL:

· WHAT’S GOING ON WITH QB MAC JONES AND THE PATRIOTS?

· DOLPHINS COACH ON TUA TAGOVAILOA: ‘WE’RE SITTING ON A GOLD MINE’

· JETS LIKE PRODUCTION OF THEIR ALABAMA PREP TACKLERS

Terms of the contract were not announced.

Brewer had been with the Los Angeles Rams since 2019.

In the 2022 season, Brewer made his first four NFL starts at right guard.

Brewer began the 2022 season on the Rams’ practice squad, saw his first action of the campaign in the sixth game and entered the starting lineup in the eighth.

After playing every offensive snap for two games, Brewer went on injured reserve with a knee ailment, part of the wave of injuries that caused the Rams to start 14 offensive linemen in 2022, the most in the NFL last season.

Brewer recovered in time to start the final two games of the season and again played every offensive snap.

With no more than three accrued seasons and an expiring contract, Brewer was eligible to become a restricted free agent on March 15 if the Rams had made a qualifying offer. But since Los Angeles did not tender him, Brewer became an unrestricted free agent, which allowed him to sign with Jacksonville.

Five-time Pro Bowler Brandon Scherff started at right guard in every game in 2022 for the Jaguars. Ben Bartch began the season at left guard. After he got hurt in the fifth game, Tyler Shatley filled the spot for the rest of the season. All three remain with the team.

At Florence High School, Brewer was an All-State second-team selection as a senior for the Falcons’ 6A Region 8 championship team, which reached the AHSAA semifinals before falling to eventual state champion Clay-Chalkville in 2014.

At Middle Tennessee, Brewer was a four-year starter. He earned All-Conference USA recognition as the Blue Raiders’ right guard in 2018 even though he underwent radiation treatments for six weeks during the season after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Brewer earned a spot on the Los Angeles practice squad as an undrafted rookie in 2019. The Rams brought Brewer to their active roster for the 10th game of that season, and he played in the final seven contests, getting on the field for 17 offensive snaps and 31 special-teams plays.

Brewer opted out of the 2020 season under the NFL’s plan to play during the coronavirus pandemic.

Brewer was on the Rams’ practice squad during the 2021 season, which ended when Los Angeles defeated the Cincinnati Bengals 23-20 in Super Bowl LVI. 

The Trash Pandas start their Southern League season at 6:35 p.m. CDT Thursday, when they play the Chattanooga Lookouts at Toyota Field in Madison.

FOR MORE OF AL.COM’S COVERAGE OF THE NFL, GO TO OUR NFL PAGE

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.