Penei Sewell Has One 'Pet Peeve' with Dan Campbell

Sewell loves everything about his Lions head coach but this one thing.

Head Coach Dan Campbell stands on stage during the Detroit Lions' new uniform reveal event inside Ford Field in Detroit on Thursday, April 18, 2024. / David Rodriguez Munoz / USA TODAY NETWORK

Penei Sewell and Dan Campbell have undeniably formed a great bond with one another since the two joined the Lions in 2021.

Campbell was hired in January 2021 to be the team's head coach, while Sewell was drafted in the first round by Detroit later that same year.

Since then, Campbell – who's developed a knack for motivating and getting the most out of his players – has played an integral role in Sewell's development into an All-Pro offensive tackle. Sewell, the No. 7 overall pick in the 2021 draft, was selected first-team All-Pro for the first time of his career in 2023. 

As much as Sewell loves his head coach, he does have a “pet peeve” with the fourth-year Lions head man. 

“Pet peeve, there’s not a lot. But sometimes, when he’s in a team meeting room, he’ll go on a spiel and when he’s on a spiel, sometimes he needs to take a break, and it’s a long break. And, you just don’t know what’s going to come out of his mouth next,” Sewell said on the latest edition of Barstool Sports’ “Bussin’ With The Boys” podcast. “So, he’s going on about a story, he’ll pause for a nice three minutes and then totally just veer off in another direction.”

We all love Dan Campbell but Penei Sewell has one pet peeve about him 😂 pic.twitter.com/UMJ0QuwMtc

— Bussin' With The Boys (@BussinWTB) August 6, 2024

This admission from Sewell proves that even the fiery, uplifting Campbell doesn’t always have an inspirational message in him. Sometimes, the popular head coach just wants to talk about his dog – no joke. 

“Like, we could talk about football and then have that pause, and then talk about his dog and then end the conversation,” Sewell continued. “It’s done. You’re just like, ‘I thought that was supposed to be like kind of inspirational, motivational, kind of get something out of it.’

“I was like, ‘Oh, man. I’m about to get pumped right now. Give me something, Coach.’ And then, (he says), ‘My dog loves steak,’ or something like that. That’s probably the one thing (pet peeve).”

Benefit of joint practices

The Lions finished up joint practices with the Giants Tuesday. The two days of work were filled with competitive fire and saw several scrums break out between the two teams in the practice setting.

Several Lions, including Sewell, expressed appreciation for the ability to face off against a new team in practice after two weeks of intrasquad work.

"It's a lot just because I get different looks," Sewell said. "I go from Aidan (Hutchinson), (James) Houston, Marcus Davenport, now I see (Brian) Burns and Kayvon (Thibodeaux). Those five guys, they all bring different things to the table. So I get to go against that and learn from that."