Sportsnaut
While they were once viewed as the NFL’s laughingstock, no one is poking any fun at the Detroit Lions anymore. Head coach Dan Campbell has drastically turned around the culture in the Lions’ locker room, and one of the roster-building aspects he’s placed great emphasis on is reinforcing the offensive line.
One of those investments came in the form of selecting Penei Sewell seventh overall in the 2021 NFL Draft. We typically see top-10 selections reserved for left tackles, but Lions general manager took no issue with selecting Sewell and plugging him in at right tackle instead.
Either way, the move has paid off in a big way, with Sewell coming away with three Pro Bowl nods plus two All-Pro selections in four seasons with the Lions. He was also recently ranked second in an ESPN poll that went out to NFL executives, coaches, and players.
Yet, former All-Pro Cleveland Browns and Kansas City Chiefs offensive tackle Mitchell Schwartz doesn’t think as highly of Sewell as some of his NFL peers do. While he could have kept that opinion to himself, Schwartz decided to go on a Twitter rant about the Lions’ starting right tackle, specifically criticizing Sewell’s performance in pass protection.
Schwartz believes other linemen, such as Philadelphia’s Lane Johnson, Tampa Bay’s Tristan Wirfs, and San Francisco’s Trent Williams, all deserve more credit than Sewell, particularly because he places a great amount of weight on how linemen perform in pass protection.
Wirfs did rank No. 1 in ESPN’s survey, while Johnson and Williams came in third and fourth place, respectively. For the record, Sewell only allowed one sack last season, but Pro Football Focus still had him with just a 74.1 pass-block grade, which ranked 39th among tackles.
PFF’s grading system would certainly match Schwartz’s critique of Sewell. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Sewell ranked as the second-best run-blocking tackle, which is likely why he receives so much praise as a key cog in the highest-scoring offense in the NFL a season ago.
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