Sizing Up Sewell From All Sides

In the lead-up to the 2021 NFL draft, pretty much all the focus when it comes to the Miami Dolphins and their first of two first-round picks has been on playmakers.

The idea, a very valid one, is to provide second-year quarterback Tua Tagovailoa with as much help as possible on offense. But we also suggested a while back that the idea of taking an offensive lineman, which also would help Tua, should not be dismissed.

And when it comes to O-linemen, the name most often thrown out as the best prospect — actually a prospect with a chance to become elite — is Oregon tackle Penei Sewell.

So it certainly was interesting to see a tweet from NFL Network reporter Ian Rapoport on Friday suggesting that Sewell has been working out as a right tackle as well as his college position of left tackle.

Versatility is key: #Oregon LT Penei Sewell, the Draft’s consensus top OT, has been training at right tackle as well as left tackle (which he played in college). Sewell is preparing for the possibility that someone with an entrenched LT drafts him & puts him at RT for a year.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) April 16, 2021

Rapoport's point about Sewell potentially going to a team that already has a left tackle is well taken.

Or maybe Sewell is covering all his basis in case he goes to a team that, yes, already has a left tackle but also maybe has a left-handed quarterback, which means the right tackle would be the blindside protector.

You know, a team like the Miami Dolphins.

Jesse Davis and Robert Hunt split time at right tackle for the Dolphins last season, but who doesn't believe that Sewell would represent an upgrade? As for the idea that it would be redundant to take Sewell one year after draft left tackle Austin Jackson in the first round and Hunt in the second, nothing is to prevent the Dolphins from moving Hunt inside to guard, where many draft analysts declared last year would be his best position in the NFL.

Based on all draft projections, Sewell is practically a lock to go in the top 10 and he won't go in the top three because those picks all will be quarterbacks.

That means Sewell will get drafted anywhere between 4 and 10, and the left tackle on each of the teams at those spots are Jake Matthews (ATL), Jonah Williams (CIN), Austin Jackson (MIA), Taylor Decker (DET), Greg Little (CAR), Garrett Bolles (DEN) and Tyron Smith (DAL).

Considering that all those players except for Little is a former first-round pick, it's easy to see Sewell maybe being asked to switch to right tackle as a rookie.

So it absolutely makes sense for Sewell to work out at both left and right tackle, even though he'll likely end up at left tackle at some point. Unless, of course, he's going to be protecting a left-hander's blind side for a few years.