When describing Penei Sewell, there's one word his teammates use most.
"That dude’s special, man," Jared Goff said earlier this season. "He’s going to be really special for a long time in this league."
"From day one, I knew he was going to be special," Frank Ragnow said Monday. "And he's going to keep getting more and more special."
Sewell had a special rookie season. He debuted as the youngest starting offensive tackle in NFL history, shook off some early rookie struggles and then shut the door against some of the best defensive linemen in football. In his final 11 games of the season, Sewell allowed one whole sack. Over that same stretch, he was the fourth best run-blocking tackle in the league, according to Pro Football Focus.
And how would Sewell describe his rookie season?
"Not good enough at all," Sewell said Monday. "There was a couple games where I kind of struggled, but I had to go through it. Coach Campbell said that it’ll just help me grow as an individual and a player and everything with that. So I’m looking forward to next year."
To make next year better -- even better, we might add -- Sewell said he'll "definitely" be working on his pass protection this offseason. He said he wants to be "more fluid" and "more consistent." He got a head start in his last game of the season when he locked horns with two-time Pro Bowler Carlos Dunlap of the Seahawks and didn't allow a single QB pressure. It was one of Sewell's best pass-blocking efforts of the season.
Dunlap, 32, isn't quite the player he once was. But he's still a force, one of those "old heads in this league that still have juice," as Sewell put it Monday. The seventh overall pick said the NFL is exactly what he expected, a league where "everybody is a little faster and a little stronger and a little bigger."
"It was fun to get my feet wet and get this one year under my belt, so next year I’ll be more comfortable," said Sewell.
His rookie year wasn't perfect. He does have improvements to make in pass blocking. Overall, he finished second to 13th overall pick Rashawn Slater as the best rookie tackle in the game, according to PFF. Of course, Slater played left tackle in college and plays left tackle in the NFL. Sewell played left tackle in college, right tackle in training camp, left tackle for the first eight games of the season, then right tackle for the next eight. He was yanked back and forth like a yo-yo and never got tangled.
On the left side, he held his ground against Nick Bosa and Aaron Donald. He went toe to toe with T.J. Watt and Myles Garrett in his first two games on the right. And the better he played, the louder he got. Sewell jawed at opponents across the line of scrimmage. He paced the sideline and roared at the sky. He prowled the field like he had a problem with every player on the other team.
"Yeah, he's screaming and stuff," Ragnow said. "If it gets him going, I'm all for it."
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When Sewell arrived, Ragnow said "all you really want to know is that he knows where he’s going and he plays hard." He wasn't worried about Sewell's talent, because he knew it was there. Sewell checked the other two boxes quickly. Asked if Sewell exceeded his expectations this season, Ragnow sort of laughed and said, "I thought he was going to be pretty good, and he's pretty good." The Lions have a franchise player.
"And he's got a long way to go too, man, which is nuts," said Ragnow. "For me, as a person, his work ethic, especially a rookie, he came in here humble, quiet and just worked. And then he just started developing that confidence, that confidence."
Along the way, so did Detroit's offensive line. It wasn't the vaunted unit it was supposed to be. It was still pretty darn good. Sewell started the year at left tackle because Taylor Decker started on IR. Evan Brown started the final three months at center after Ragnow went down for the year. The quintet of Decker, Jonah Jackson, Ragnow, Halapoulivaati Vaitai and Sewell that spurred talks of a top-five O-line never played a single snap. But they're all coming back.
"I think we can be great, to be honest," said Sewell. "Whatever that looks like, it is what it is. But I just know that all of us out there together, man, we could do great things. We could feed of each other. I can’t wait. I’m looking forward to that.”
Health willing, they can even be special.