Coming to Canton: Sewell's House of Pancakes

The Lions' Penei Sewell is already the best O-lineman in franchise history and is only going to get better.

It’s not usual to have an entire pro football franchise synonymous with an offensive tackle. And, maybe the Cincinnati Bengals aren’t that franchise.

But they’re as close as you can come.

Anthony Munoz was drafted #3 overall by the Bengals in 1980, out of USC. It was considered a risky move at the time, because the mammoth Munoz had battled significant knee injuries in his junior and senior years.

But retired Bengals star TE Bob Trumpy (1968-77) disagreed with the naysayers.

“I said, ‘Have you seen this kid play? He’s the real deal. The Bengals just got their starting left tackle for the next 10 years,’” Trumpy recalled on NFL Films several years ago.

Trumpy was wrong.

The Bengals got their starting left tackle for the next 13 years.

There have been a whole lot of great offensive linemen in NFL history, and without agreed-upon metrics to use in order to rank them (unlike today), it often comes down to the “eye test.” That, and peer recognition—and that of NFL coaches.

You’d be hard-pressed to find any longtime NFL observer to not rank Anthony Munoz in the top three at his position in league history. Not just of his era—of any era.

Munoz, considered to be “Mr. Bengal,” turned out to be pretty damn durable in his 13 NFL seasons. He only missed four games in his first 11 years before slowing slightly in years 12 and 13.

Munoz could have peeled off his uniform after his final game in 1992 and slipped on the iconic yellow Hall of Fame blazer without showering and no one would have cared. In fact, they might have asked what took him so long.

Anyone who’s bothered to read this space should know that the author is anything but a Lions slappy. But I’m about to throw something very slappy-like at you right now.

Penei Sewell is the Lions’ version of Anthony Munoz. Mark it down. Print this out, frame it and if you think you’re going to use it against me, you’ll be sorely disappointed.

The Lions—and it’s still hard to get used to this competence that’s been coming out of Allen Park since 2021—have included as part of their brilliant off-season, the extension of Sewell to the tune of four years and $112 million. They got ahead of this and locked him up before the price got even higher—which it doubtless would have.

The extension keeps Sewell in Honolulu Blue and Silver through the 2029 season. They’ll need to extend him again—and again, and again until he hangs up his cleats.

Munoz was 22 years old when he made his NFL debut for the Bengals in 1980. Sewell was 20 when he was drafted seventh overall out of Oregon in 2021. So he has a two-year head start in going after Munoz’s legacy.

Sewell will be the Lions’ Munoz in that he’ll play his entire career in Detroit, will be the unquestioned best offensive lineman in franchise history and will be enshrined in the Hall of Fame. He’ll make Lomas Brown look like a backup center. And that’s no disrespect to Lomas.

The comparisons with Munoz don’t stop at merely OT play.

Both players exhibit(ed) freakish athletic skills.

Munoz caught seven passes for 18 yards, including four touchdowns. Sewell has a pass catch already and there will likely be more of them, especially in OC Ben Johnson’s system.

Sewell is impenetrable. Already, after three seasons, I’ve seen enough. In my 54 years of following the Lions, Penei Sewell is already head and shoulders above any O-lineman I’ve seen in Detroit. It’s mind-numbing to think how much better he’s going to get. His ceiling is endless.

Sewell’s not even 24 years old yet (October). His move to the more “prestigious” LT position is inevitable, due to eventual attrition on the Lions’ line.

But beyond his being a brick wall on wheels, Sewell has the perfect personality and disposition for Detroit. His easy, ear-to-ear smile he displays in public belies a meanness on the gridiron that closely identifies with the blue collar football fans in town. Lions fans might not necessarily fill Ford Field specifically to watch Sewell block, but oh, how they’ll enjoy it.

Will Sewell be “Mr. Lion”? No. But he’ll be as closely identified with the franchise as any player I will have ever seen.

I’ve seen enough.

If you still have any doubt as to whether the so-called draft experts are just that, recall that as Sewell was going through training camp and the pre-season games in his rookie year, a segment of NFL observers fretted over Sewell’s footwork and complained that because of it, his pro career would be pocked. After all, he only suited up for 15 games at Oregon, and missed the 2020 season entirely (opted out due to COVID).

Ha!

In 2022-23 combined, Sewell has allowed just three sacks. That’s one sack every 11 games. As a run blocker, you might as well call Sewell SHOP (Sewell’s House of Pancakes).

Munoz’s Bengals teams made two Super Bowls (XVI and XXIII), though they lost them both. And, he played for some bad teams in Cincinnati too, as happens when your NFL career is 13 years.

Sewell played on a bad Lions team in 2021 and despite their current status as America’s Team II, there will no doubt be some more dark days down the line. The law of averages and what not.

But through it all, Sewell will stand tall at LT and will be the Lions’ O-line rock. He’ll be his quarterback’s best friend.

He’ll certainly be the best NFL player ever to come out of the American Samoan village of Malaeimi.

The road to the NFL started when Sewell’s father, Gabriel, became a football coach and moved the family to Utah in 2012, in order to give his boys a better shot at playing pro ball. It worked. Nephi Sewell is a linebacker for the Saints, and Noah Sewell is a linebacker for the Bears.

Frankly, I think the only thing stopping Penei Sewell from authoring a lengthy NFL career is Sewell himself.

Today’s pro football players don’t play as long as their predecessors—even if they’re healthy, and I get it. More than ever, playing pro football is abusive to the body—and brain. We just lost Jim Otto, the longtime Raiders center who played 15 years without missing a game for the Silver and Black. Otto’s body was essentially a surgeon’s journal for all the operations he underwent.

Those types of players are probably gone forever and I can’t blame a guy for getting out while he’s still functioning.

But however long he’s a Lion—and only a Lion—Penei Sewell will be a gem. He’s going to flatten defenders and form a protective bubble for his quarterback for years to come.

And he’s going to Canton.

I’ve seen enough.