ALLEN PARK, Mich. (AP) — The Detroit Lions are asking perhaps their best player, offensive tackle Penei Sewell, to change positions this season and fully expect a seamless transition.
“It’ll be like riding a bike for him,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said Friday before the team’s workout. “Will there be things he’ll have to learn? Yeah, of course there will be. But I mean, he has played left. That’s muscle memory. He played a lot of left in college and for us for those in ’21.”
Sewell is one of five players to have been an All-Pro three times and selected to the Pro Bowl four times during his first five seasons.
Anthony Munoz, Tony Boselli and Joe Thomas all did it over the last half-century at left tackle, and Jim Parker did so while playing three positions in the late 1950s and early 1960s, according to Sportradar.
Detroit is making the move to replace Taylor Decker while putting first-round pick Blake Miller or newly acquired veteran Larry Borom at Sewell's previous spot at right tackle.
“Sewell can do it all,” Campbell said.
Detroit drafted Sewell out of Oregon, where he was an award-winning left tackle, with the No. 7 pick five years ago.
Sewell started the first eight games of his career in 2021 at left tackle because Decker was injured, making him the youngest left tackle to start an NFL game at 20 years old.
The Lions shifted him to right tackle midway through his rookie year and he stayed there for the last four-plus seasons, other than a short stint during the 2023 season when Decker was hurt again.
Decker asked for his release during the offseason, ending a 10-year run as the team’s starting left tackle after announcing he was coming back instead of retiring. The Lions addressed the void by taking Miller out of Clemson with the No. 17 pick last month.
Sewell, who is in the first season of a four-year, $112 million contract, has proven to be quite a pick for Detroit.
He earned first-team, All-Pro honors the last three years and Pro Bowl recognition four straight times. Sewell has started 83 times in the regular season, plus four playoff games, in five years to help the long-suffering franchise become a respected team in the league.
“We expected great things from him from the beginning, and he's done nothing to disprove that,” said Lions assistant general manager Ray Agnew, who has been a part of the NFL for nearly four decades. “I think he's one of the best that ever did it.”
Campbell said the 6-foot-5, 335-pound Sewell is athletic enough to play guard or even tight end, but switching sides for an offensive lineman can be challenging.
Players who have made the move say it's like driving a car with the opposite foot or shaving with their other hand. The footwork is different as is the hand-and-eye coordination required on each side.
“When you switch, you have a different leg up front,” Sewell has said. “So you have to push off a different leg every time. You have to train this leg that’s been back the whole time and catching to now pushing.”
This story has been corrected to show that five, not four, players have been an All-Pro three times and selected to the Pro Bowl four times during their first five seasons.
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
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