Brad Holmes may have just inadvertently spoiled what position Penei Sewell will play and who will start opposite him
The Lions have some really good flexibility with Penei Sewell and they have some strong confidence in Larry Borom
The Detroit Lions’ biggest thing they needed to work on this offseason is the offensive line. They need to get that thing back to the dominant group it once was.
They have their new center with Cade Mays, but there are still some big questions at tackle. What are the Lions going to do there? The expectation is that they’re going to draft their next starting left tackle, but after listening to Lions GM Brad Holmes talk to Lions Collective on Tuesday, that doesn’t necessarily look like it’s happening for sure.
Holmes certainly talked about Larry Borom as a guy who the Lions believe can start for them
Holmes talked about Borom a lot on Tuesday and had some very good things to say about him.
“…Had a lot of exposure to him playing a lot of different spots, but seeing what he did at Miami, especially at right tackle. And then when you start looking at the films, like this is probably about the most consistent ball that I’ve seen him play.” Holmes said. ” And so then you start taking a deeper dive of him at right tackle, even in the past, and you start seeing this level of consistency versus the guard spots or the left tackle spots. And not saying that he can’t play with spots too, because he can, but that’s what kept him up there for us.”
Borom actually had the best season of his career with the Dolphins and down the stretch, he looked really good at right tackle. Like, starter worthy.
That is impressive. But if you really focus on what Holmes is saying, he’s talking about right tackle a lot. But wait, isn’t that where Penei Sewell plays?
The Penei Sewell move to left tackle looks like a real thing right now
To be clear, Holmes did not outright say that Sewell was moving to left tackle, but he did say that Sewell’s ability to play on the left and right side made it easier for the Lions to just go find a tackle they like.
“I think that’s the beauty of having a player like him, is that you always have that flexibility of the possibility of him playing left tackle. He’s done it before. It’s not anything foreign to him.” Holmes said. “So even as we’re going through free agency, we weren’t really pigeonholed. Like, ‘gotta get the left tackle. We gotta get a right. ‘We’re like, ‘what’s the best tackle for us?’ And then we’ll kind of adjust as needed.”
There you go. The Lions know full well what they have, and there is a big possibility that he’s moving to left tackle and Borom starts at right tackle in 2026.
What can that mean for the 2026 NFL Draft?
This does not mean anything is set in stone. We’re just talking here, people. The Lions can still spend the 17th pick on a tackle, and that guy can start right away. But if the Lions are indeed confident about Borom at right tackle, this does lessen the urgency a bit and allows the Lions to do what they’re probably going to do anyway and go with the best available player. A player who could very well be an edge rusher who finally solves that problem so many Lions fans keep worrying about.
Right now, it’s all wait and see. But Sewell to left tackle makes a lot of sense. At the very least, it opens the Lions’ possibilities up more because they don’t have to find one side or the other.
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