Detroit Lions offensive tackle Penei Sewell switching sides this offseason is not scaring anyone off from calling him the best tackle in the NFL entering 2026. Jeremy Fowler of ESPN polled executives, scouts, and coaches to see who the top ten players were at each position.
Sewell jumped from the second-best tackle by the voting last year, and now he is considered the No. 1 tackle in the NFL. Fowler did note that Sewell actually did not get the most first-place votes, but it was the lack of any low votes that made him the clear-cut number one tackle.
“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,” wrote Clay.
A high floor can be just as valuable as a high ceiling, and Sewell tends to have both.
Detroit Lions OT Penei Sewell Voted Best Tackle in NFL
GettyThe Lions confirmed that Penei Sewell will move to left tackle
The lowest that Sewell was ranked in any poll was number four. That speaks to the league-wide consensus on him. Even if NFL personnel members did not think he was the best tackle in the NFL, they all agreed he was in that top tier in some order.
This is considerably different than the rest of the tackles. Seven of the other top ten were left off at least one voter’s ballot. The lowest Jordan Mailata was rated was number nine, which is why he landed so high on the list. The lowest that Tristan Wirfs was on any list was eighth.
However, even Trent Williams, who had multiple votes at number one overall, was left off of the ballot by some people. This shows how much talent there is at the top of the tackle market in the NFL.
Guys like Rashawn Slater, Charles Cross, and Christian Darrisaw did not make the list despite receiving plenty of top ten votes. Overall, 22 different tackles got at least one vote in the top ten. They added to the diversity of the ballots.
This is what makes Sewell being as low as four on any ranking so impressive. The opinions varied widely, and nobody had the same top ten. However, nobody could get to number five without mentioning the Lions tackle.
ESPN Poll Goes Against Recent ESPN Analysis
The timing of the poll was very interesting and aligned with the analysis of fantasy football analyst Mike Clay. Clay ranked Sewell as his tenth-best offensive lineman. He was met with a bit of criticism over the decision and took to social media to defend his stance.
Clay pointed to in-house metrics that tell a story of Sewell that most fans do not see. He is not a strong pass blocker in the metrics that Clay used. However, a day later, the same company he worked for published a poll from people who have jobs in the NFL, and none of them came close to as low as Clay when it comes to Sewell.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but it was noteworthy how authoritative Clay was in framing it that only Lions fans saw Sewell as better than a fringe top ten lineman. Meanwhile, the NFL agreed with the fans over the analyst.
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