Penei Sewell wants to atone for a 'down year' as he slides to left tackle
A three-time first-team All-Pro, the Lions star says 2025 was far from his best ball. Now he is learning a new stance on the blind side.
Most offensive linemen would take the season Penei Sewell just had and frame it. The Detroit Lions right tackle earned first-team Associated Press All-Pro honors for the third year in a row in 2025, the kind of run that puts a player in rare company. Sewell sees it differently. By his own standard, the year fell short, and he is not interested in pretending otherwise as he prepares for a move across the offensive line.
Why does Penei Sewell call an All-Pro season a down year?
Sewell holds himself to a standard that most linemen never reach for. "This year wasn't my best ball. It was far from that," he said of 2025. "I believe that I'm going to set the tone and make plays that typically O-linemen don't make, so this year was definitely a down year for me." The Lions finished 9-8, a step back from the contender form Detroit carried in previous seasons under Dan Campbell. The offensive line was part of that slide, ranking second-worst in the NFL in pass block win rate at 56 percent, ahead of only the Los Angeles Chargers. For a unit that had been a strength, and for a player used to grading near the top, the season clearly stung.
What is behind Sewell's move from right tackle to left tackle?
Campbell asked Sewell to switch from right tackle to left tackle for 2026, the spot Detroit needed to fill after moving on from longtime starter Taylor Decker. Sewell is not a stranger to the left side, but it has been a while. He last played there full-time in college at Oregon, where he won the 2019 Outland Trophy, and his NFL snaps at left tackle total only 647, most of them back in 2021. The Lions reshaped the line around the change, drafting Blake Miller in the first round and adding center Cade Mays to help steady a middle that had been a problem area. It is a significant ask, but Detroit clearly trusts its best lineman to handle the franchise's blind side.
What is Sewell working on to make the switch?
The challenge is less about talent than about rewiring habits built over five pro seasons. "It's just different," Sewell said. "You're switching your whole stance and everything." Offensive line coach Hank Fraley pointed to footwork, balance and weight distribution as the focus, the small mechanical details that change when a player flips to a left-handed stance. Breaking old habits and building new ones takes reps, and Sewell has spent the offseason doing exactly that. The pedigree gives Detroit confidence: across his first five seasons Sewell has been a first-team All-Pro three times and a Pro Bowler four times, a start that puts him alongside Hall of Fame tackles Anthony Munoz, Tony Boselli and Joe Thomas. If anyone can make a move like this look routine, it is him.
Players in this story
Sources
- ESPN: Lions star OL Penei Sewell eager to atone for 'down year'
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