# The Bengals passed on drafting Penei Sewell, and Detroit Lions have thrived ever since
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When Cincinnati was on the clock at No. 5, Sewell expected his phone to ring.
“You just have that feeling when something’s about to happen or you’re about to get a call of some sort, so you just have that anticipation,” he told the Free Press. “But, yeah, it never came.”
The Bengals passed on Sewell to take wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase, reuniting the pass catcher with his college quarterback. And while Chase has developed into one of the NFL’s best receivers, that decision helped the Detroit Lions land one of the cornerstones of a rebuild that has made them one of the best teams in football.
“This is where I was meant to be from draft day on,” Sewell said.
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“I still believe he’s just scratched the surface of where he can go,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said. "I think the guy’s, he’s special. But I go back to this, yeah, he’s got ability. God gave him some rare ability and size and length and all that. This guy busts his tail, man. He works. He works. Every day in practice, he works his craft. He doesn’t take plays off, and it’s no wonder he’s become the player that he has.”
For that, the Lions owe the Bengals a debt of gratitude, in the same way they owe the Jaguars for passing on Aidan Hutchinson with the first pick of the 2022 draft.
Sewell was exactly the type of player, at exactly the right position they needed to jumpstart their franchise, and looking back there’s no way he should have made it to the Lions at No. 7 – or the Bengals at No. 5, for that matter – even in a loaded draft.
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“He is a pillar of the team,” Lions left tackle Taylor Decker said. “Nobody’s arguing that he’s not one of the best linemen in the NFL. The guy’s a superstar. He can do everything we ask him to do and he allows us to be a lot more multiple. So I feel like if you can get an elite lineman there’s not much more that you want other than that. Maybe the only other position would be a quarterback or an edge rusher that’s right up there with it, but if you can get an elite tackle like that and who pretty much out of the gate is top of his game, I mean, he’s a generational player.”
Decker said he paid close attention to the 2021 draft after Lions offensive line coach Hank Fraley called to let him know the Lions planned to take Sewell if he slipped to their pick.
Fraley told Decker the team had no intention of having him change positions. Decker appreciated the advance notice. And Decker and Sewell are in their fifth year together of bookending one of the league’s best offensive lines.
“Penei has been everything the Lions ever needed at that position,” said defensive tackle Alim McNeill, one of Sewell’s 2021 draft classmates. “I don’t say left or right tackle, Penei is just an offensive lineman. You could put Penei at guard and it’s going to be the same thing. Yeah, he’s absolutely been everything you would want in an offensive lineman, 10,000%. I couldn’t even imagine – if they did it again, the Lions is 1,000% picking Penei again. It’s not even a thought.”
Sewell said he feels fortunate the draft played out like it did
Playing for Campbell and Fraley and alongside Decker and his other linemates helped him quickly acclimate to the NFL, he said. And playing for the Lions has pushed him in his pursuit of greatness.
in their home stadium.