A Look at Numbers RT Penei Sewell Must Improve Upon in 2022
Detroit Lions right tackle Penei Sewell understood that playing on the offensive line in the National Football League required a bit of a learning curve.
The game moves significantly faster than at the collegiate level. Also, teams dump an enormous amount of information in the lap of young players, just in their first few months in the league.
While no other Lions offensive linemen cracked the ESPN top-10 ranking, the talented 21-year-old did receive an honorable mention in the recent poll of NFL scouts, coaches, executives and other players.
"The Lions knew moving Sewell to right tackle after selecting him sixth overall -- he played left tackle at Oregon -- would be an adjustment, and that showed up in some of the stats," writer Jeremy Fowler explained.
After Taylor Decker was injured early in training camp, Sewell started his career playing left tackle.
When Decker returned, there was very little consideration of leaving the rookie to play the position he spent the majority of time playing during his college career.
Sewell was immediately assigned to play right tackle.
"He ranked 54th in pass-block win rate (84.0%), gave up 10 sacks and had 10 run-block whiffs. But he improved as the year went on, recording a 77.0 Pro Football Focus rating," Fowler noted.
An NFL personnel director added, "There was good performance in there; it wasn't a lost year for them."
The expectation among several league evaluators and personnel members is that the ceiling is actually quite high for the ex-Ducks lineman.
"He had a higher ceiling for me than (Rashawn) Slater. Slater you knew would be good," Fowler wrote. "Sewell is a bit more boom or bust, but he could be a Hall of Famer."
