To help us navigate the slower time on the NFL calendar before training camp, ESPN is again rolling out it's position-by-position top-10 rankings rooted in polling of executives, coaches, and scouts from around the league. As those rankings have come out, the Detroit Lions have received some nice (and expected) acknowledgement.
But with the reveal of the calendar for each position ranking reveal clearly made-known, everyone in Detroit awaited the offensive tackle rankings. Would Penei Sewell finally get the kind of lofty acknowledgement it has seemed to be only a matter of time before he'd get?
Well, now we know. In ESPN's offensive tackle rankings for 2026, Sewell indeed is No. 1.
"He's still the most complete player at this stage -- physical, powerful, smart," a veteran NFL defensive coach said of Sewell", per ESPN NFL insider Jeremy Fowler.
"Sewell took the top spot with consistency in the voting. Though he didn't dominate the first-place voting, he was living in the second- and third-place range, which improved his average in the composite total. And one NFC executive was blunt when describing Sewell's strengths as a player."
Penei Sewell has finally taken his rightful place among his positional peers
Sewell has an edge to his excellence that is unique. One NFC executive has clearly noticed.
"He has the most 'f--- you' attitude plays in the league," the exec said. "Always brings the juice."
By his lofty standards, 2025 was a self-acknowledged down year for Sewell.
"But even so, his 89.6% pass block win rate landed outside the top 40 offensive tackles last season", Fowler wrote. "It was his lowest since his rookie year in 2021."
ESPN's win rate metric has flaws, but that didn't stop one of their own analysts from using it as a way to discredit Sewell just days before the offensive tackle rankings came out.
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Sewell played left tackle at a high level in college at Oregon, including winning the Outland Trophy as a sophomore, and until the last couple seasons he filled in there whenever Taylor Decker missed time. So it's not a foreign position to him as he makes the move this year, but the switch is a headliner that has to be noted.
Somehow, Sewell is only entering his age-26 season. So now that he has finally reached No. 1 in ESPN's offensive tackle rankings, it might be a while before someone dethrones him.
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