NEWYou can now listen to Pakinomist articles!
Penei Sewell has been All-Pro three times and selected to the Pro Bowl four times over his first five seasons, putting him in elite company with only three Hall of Famers.
The Detroit Lions are switching Sewell’s position this season, separating him from Anthony Munoz, Tony Boselli and Joe Thomas.
The trio of former all-time greats are the only other offensive tackles to be first-team All-Pro at least three times and named to the Pro Bowl four or more times in their first five years in the league — and they were left tackles throughout their NFL careers.
Detroit makes the move to replace Taylor Decker while putting first-round pick Blake Miller or newly acquired veteran Larry Borom in Sewell’s former spot at right tackle.
Lions coach Dan Campbell expects a smooth transition for the 6-foot-5, 335-pound Sewell.
“It’s going to be like riding a bike for him,” Campbell said Friday before the team’s practice. “Will there be things he’s going to have to learn? Yeah, of course there will be. But I mean, he’s played left. It’s muscle memory. He played a lot back in college and for us in ’21.”
Detroit drafted Sewell out of Oregon, where he was an award-winning left tackle, with the No. 7 pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.
Sewell started the first eight games of his 2021 career at left tackle because Decker was injured, making him the youngest left tackle to start an NFL game at age 20.
The Lions moved Sewell to right tackle midway through his rookie year, and he stayed there for the last four-plus seasons, except for a brief stint in the 2023 season when Decker was injured again.
“Sewell can do it all,” Campbell said.
Decker asked to be released in the offseason and ended a 10-year run as the team’s starting left tackle after announcing he would return rather than retire. The Lions addressed the void by taking Miller out of Clemson with the No. 17 pick last month.
Sewell, in the first season of a four-year, $112 million contract, has proven to be one of the best things for Detroit.
He earned first-team All-Pro honors the past three years and Pro Bowl recognition four straight times. Sewell has made 83 regular-season starts plus four playoff games in five years to help the long-suffering franchise become a respected team in the league.
Campbell said Sewell is athletic enough to play guard or even tight end, but switching sides to offensive lineman could be challenging.
Players who have taken the plunge say it’s like driving with the opposite foot or shaving with the other hand. The footwork is different, as is the hand-eye coordination required on each side.
“When you switch, you have another leg in front,” Sewell has said. “So you have to push off a different leg each time. You have to train this leg that’s been back all along and got to push now.”
Report from the Associated Press.
