In a league that is constantly evolving, where teams like the Detroit Lions are regularly amending their rosters, nothing stays the same. Penei Sewell can attest to that.
“Every year we talk about a different year,” he said Thursday, June 4. “But this one’s kind of … a lot different.”
The offensive line Sewell now anchors bears no resemblance to the starting unit he joined upon entering the NFL five seasons ago. Sewell, rather remarkably, is the last member of that 2021 group still on the team. But even he has been uprooted to some extent after the All-Pro tackle was asked to flip from the right side to the left, where he will take over for Taylor Decker and serve as Jared Goff‘s blindside protector.
The move has been anticipated since the end of last season, when Decker began to publicly contemplate retirement and cast his own future in doubt. The organization, though, wasn’t ready to commit to it.
But when Decker was granted his release in March and free agent Larry Borom was signed shortly thereafter, the writing was on the wall. Lions coach Dan Campbell didn’t deny it, telling reporters at the NFL annual meeting that he wanted Sewell to make the switch. Then, in April, the Lions gave the final confirmation it was happening when they used their first-round pick to draft Clemson’s Blake Miller.
Miller, after all, played almost exclusively on the right side during his college career.
Sewell, in contrast, was once a standout left tackle at Oregon and seemed destined to play the position in the pros. As a rookie, he did by happenstance, starting the first eight games of the 2021 season after Decker suffered a serious finger injury just before the opener. But when Decker returned to the lineup, Sewell transferred back over to the opposite end. Notwithstanding a two-game stretch in 2023, he remained there for the next 4½ seasons. Over that period, he blossomed into one of the NFL’s top blockers, earning four straight Pro Bowl invitations.
“I think he’s one of the best who ever did it,” Lions assistant general manager Ray Agnew said.
So, if anyone could handle a mid-career role change without suffering a drop off in performance, the Lions were confident it was Sewell.
In their eyes, he had the necessary athleticism, work ethic and know-how to make a smooth transition.
“It’ll be like riding a bike for him,” Campbell said. “Will it be things he’ll have to learn? Yeah, of course there will be. But I mean he has played left. That’s muscle memory. He played a lot of left in college and for us for those in ’21, those first few games. And he still took reps at left even over the last five years, so that’ll be seamless. That’ll be seamless. Sewell can do it all.”
That may be true. But even Sewell understands this task won’t be easy. He’ll have to rewire himself by mirroring the movements he had become so accustomed to carrying out in recent years. That will require him to reverse his stance and push off a different leg.
Standing in front of a throng of reporters after the Lions completed their sixth organized team activity, Sewell didn’t divulge much about his big move. But it could have major consequences going forward for one of the team’s most valuable players: Jahmyr Gibbs.
After backfield sidekick David Montgomery was shipped off to Houston this past winter, the speedy ball carrier became the team’s de facto “bell cow,” as Campbell put it.
“He really became more of that last year, but we’re going to hang our hat on him quite a bit,” the Lions coach continued. “We expect him to have a big year for us.”
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3 / 3To get where the Lions want him to go, there is a good chance Gibbs will have to follow Sewell and adjust along with him. In his first three seasons in the league, Gibbs’ yards per carry average was 15% higher when he took the ball to the right side versus the left, according to Pro Football Reference. His touchdown-to-rush attempt ratio was also markedly better. In the vicinity where Sewell generally operated – over right tackle, right guard and right end – the Lions’ ground offense experienced far more success last season than it did when traversing the exact same three lanes on the opposite side of the line. The difference – a whopping 2.27 yards per carry – was stark, according to Pro Football Focus.
“I didn’t know that,” Gibbs said.
But he is certainly aware of Sewell’s impact and his reputation as the premier run blocker in the NFL.
At a time when the offensive line is integrating at least two new starters, Sewell’s shift to left tackle is among the most consequential changes the Lions made this offseason.
The Lions are counting on him being the same player he was on the right side.
There is no reason to believe he won’t be, they say.
“Penei,” Goff said, “will be fine.”
Contact Rainer Sabin at rsabin@freepress.com. Follow him @RainerSabin on X.
