The less Dan Campbell thought about Penei Sewell, the more he wanted to talk about him. It was late in the second quarter when Campbell had to bite his tongue. After switching from left tackle in college to right tackle in training camp back to left tackle in Week 1, Sewell was standing his ground in his NFL debut against Nick Bosa and the 49ers' dominant defensive line.
"I was going to say something in the headset, like, 'This kid’s playing pretty good. I feel like he’s holding his own.' But I didn’t want to do it because I didn’t want to jinx him. But I felt like from afar he really did. When you don’t even think twice about him at a certain point and you’re thinking about everything else, that’s a good sign," Campbell said after the Lions' season-opening loss to the 49ers.
It was an ugly game for Detroit, but Sewell -- the youngest starting left tackle in NFL history -- was a bright spot. The Lions slid him over from the right after Taylor Decker's finger injury last week, and Sewell slipped into Decker's shoes with ease. He allowed a hit on Jared Goff on his first snap in pass protection, and Bosa beat him now and then, but otherwise Sewell looked like the force he was at Oregon. He looked like the seventh overall pick.
Which is more than the Lions could say during Sewell's transition to right tackle in the preseason.
"He’s going to be good," said Bosa. "He’s more comfortable on the left and I could tell from the tape I saw of him on the right. I told him after the game he’s better on the left and he’s more comfortable on the left. He’s going to be a solid player, for sure."
Welcome to the first controversy of the Lions' season. The club drafted the 20-year-old Sewell to be its right tackle of the future as part of a dominant offensive line with Decker on the left. And Sewell has already said he's the right tackle when Decker returns, no matter how well he plays at left tackle in the interim. But the jump in Sewell's performance Sunday was impossible to ignore. Maybe the Lions drafted their left tackle of the future by mistake.
From former NFL offensive lineman Geoff Schwartz:
"I definitely really felt comfortable out there at left," Sewell said. "I mean, there was no other choice, I was gonna play it come game time, so I had to be ready.”
Again, Sewell wasn't perfect. He acknowledged that his "hands were out of whack, pad level came too high on a couple (plays)" and he has to "go back to the drawing board to get better for next week." At the same time, he went toe to toe with one of the best young pass-rushers in the NFL and looked like he belonged. He also helped pave the way for a rushing attack that gained yards in chunks.
"Shoot, I seen holes. That’s all I saw," said running back Jamaal Williams. "First game, playing against other superstars, for him to come in and do his job (when we're) running the ball, pushing people out of the way and stuff, I’m proud of him."
From former Lions offensive lineman TJ Lang:
"Sewell was fantastic today outside of maybe two plays. He’s a strong-ass dude when he gets his hands inside. Had Bosa so frustrated that he switched over to the right tackle in the 4th quarter."
It's hard to say enough about Sewell's performance against Bosa. His ability to quiet the former second overall pick and the 2019 Defensive Rookie of the Year made Decker's absence forgettable. When Decker went down, Campbell said the Lions wanted Sewell on Bosa because "we just felt like athletically he was the best matchup for him."
"Knowing he would get a dose of him, he’s powerful, he’s big, he’s explosive, talking about Sewell, and he played left tackle in college. That’s what he had done and I know he embraced it. He was really excited to go back to left, so it just felt like the right move. And from that standpoint we felt like he performed pretty well."
With Decker expected to be out for a month, Sewell will get a few more games at his old position. He remains the Lions' right tackle of the future. And the plan to build around Sewell, Decker and Frank Ragnow remains a good one. But if Sewell continues to excel at left tackle, where excellence is more valuable than ever, Detroit's new regime might have to think about calling an audible.