The discussion of what to do with Penei Sewell once Taylor Decker returns to the Detroit Lions lineup has dominated the talk around the team recently. After an impressive debut in Week 1 at left tackle, there is a groundswell of support to keep Sewell, the team’s highly-touted first-round pick in 2021, on the left side.
It’s a worthy discussion that has merits on both sides of the argument aisle. But the man primarily responsible for making the decision, Lions offensive line coach Hank Fraley, put a swift end to any thoughts of keeping Sewell at left tackle once Decker is healthy. Sewell will go back to right tackle when Decker, the team’s longest-tenured player and one of the NFL’s better left tackles, recovers from his finger injury.
“I’ll just be honest, there’s been no discussion on that stuff,” Fraley told reporters on Thursday. “When we cross that bridge (we will). Right now Taylor, in my mind, is our left tackle and Penei is our right tackle. And when Taylor is not playing, Penei is left tackle and Matt Nelson is the right tackle.”
It’s a pretty emphatic statement and tone from Fraley, who has devoted hundreds of hours since April teaching Sewell to master playing right tackle. Fraley also brought up the fact that Decker hasn’t played right tackle since 2013, when Sewell wasn’t even in high school yet.
“I’ve never seen Taylor play right tackle,” Fraley replied. “I just know this, if you ask any of our guys to do whatever, they will go out and compete wherever they go, but that’s not even been brought up.”
Fraley did leave some room for a potential move later down the road.
“I’d love to entertain that, but we’re so far away from that right now. We’re just, how do we put the best lineup out there for Green Bay right now? We’ll worry about that when Decker comes back, but right now, I know that we feel good with Sewell being at left,” Fraley stated.