Penei Sewell Will Have Same Confident Mindset Wherever He Plays

Penei Sewell is feeling confident, heading into his second NFL season.

With the Detroit Lions set to open the 2022 season Sunday, the start to Penei Sewell’s second campaign is growing close.

Sewell, the offensive tackle taken seventh overall in the 2021 NFL Draft, projects as a foundational piece for the Lions during their current rebuild. The unit is seen as perhaps the team’s most talented position group

However, the unit will be down one of its starters as the team begins the year. Right guard Halapoulivaati Vaitai was placed on injured reserve Monday, with a back injury. It'll sideline him for the foreseeable future.

“It’s tough, it’s very tough,” Sewell said. “Me and him have a very special relationship, it’s almost like he’s my uncle. But, it’s tough. I was looking forward to this year, the things that we were doing in the preseason and even during training camp. It was gonna be special, man. But, when he comes back, it’s gonna be on.”

Lions head coach Dan Campbell said he didn’t anticipate the injury ending Vaitai’s season,  but added that the team is viewing his recovery from a day-to-day perspective.

In Vaitai’s absence, the Lions are exploring their next move. The team has two backup guards in Tommy Kraemer and Logan Stenberg, but Kraemer didn’t practice Wednesday and Stenberg has played in just nine games in two NFL seasons.

Among other options, Campbell told reporters that he was considering the possibility of moving Sewell to guard and inserting Matt Nelson as a starting tackle, as well as possibly moving center Frank Ragnow to guard and starting Evan Brown in the middle.

If Sewell is to move inside, he knows he’ll have to rely on guidance from his injured teammate.

“He’ll be big,” Sewell said. “Obviously, I’ve never been there, so I’ll just go watch him and what he’s done and what makes him great. Go from there.”

When it comes to changing positions, Sewell was forced to do so as a rookie. After repping during the preseason as the right tackle, an injury to Taylor Decker forced him to move to quarterback Jared Goff’s blind side at the start of his rookie year.

While it was an adjustment, and he certainly had his struggles, the Oregon product ultimately gained valuable experience, before returning to the right side when Decker returned.

“The number one thing, and I’ve been saying this throughout this whole entire time, is confidence,” Sewell said. “You just can’t lose that. The moment you are not trusting in your abilities to do the job, that’s just gonna make your job 10 times harder. And then, now you’re playing a mind game that you’ve created yourself. So, just having that same confidence every time, no matter who it is, who or what job I’m asked, you know, just keep that same mindset throughout the whole time.”

Regardless of what moves are made, it will be an adjustment period. Decker, the Lions’ seventh-year left tackle, said Wednesday that changing positions is not as easy as it may seem.

“I don’t think a lot of people realize that every position on the offensive line is vastly different, in my opinion,” Decker said. “Just from moving from tackle to guard, or to flip sides, you spend so much time training at one position, one set. Maybe I’m used to setting a five-technique, and now you might be moving to guard and playing against three techniques. Maybe you’re a center that’s moving to guard. It’s just vastly, vastly different.”