Taylor Decker’s departure ahead of the 2026 NFL season led the Detroit Lions to explore options for his replacement. Brad Holmes, however, remains confident in filling the gap, even moving Penei Sewell to a new position for what’s ahead.
“I think that’s the beauty of having a player like him,” Holmes said on the Lions Collective podcast. “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, so, even as we’re going through free agency, we weren’t really pigeonholed like, ‘We’ve got to get a left tackle. We’ve got to get a right tackle.’ We were just like, ‘What’s the best tackle for us?’ And then we’ll kind of adjust as needed. So that’s kind of the beauty of it.”
Right tackle spot well covered in Detroit
After Decker leaving the team in early March 2026, the Detroit Lions moved swiftly in free agency to reconfigure their offensive line. They secured veteran and Detroit native Larry Borom with a one-year, $5 million contract ($4.9 million guaranteed).
Larry Borom #79 of the Miami Dolphins.
With Borom slated to take over the Right Tackle vacancy, the path is cleared for Penei Sewell to finally make his definitive transition to Left Tackle to protect Jared Goff’s blind side. This is a move that the team has successfully experimented with in the past and which now becomes the cornerstone of their 2026 scheme.
Pewell’s versatility
Penei Sewell enters the 2026 season coming off a career-best 95.2 PFF grade, the highest among all NFL tackles last year. He was nearly impassable in 2025, allowing only 2 sacks and 19 total pressures while dominating as the league’s top-ranked run blocker with a 96.8 grade.
By moving his position, Sewell brings this elite production to Jared Goff’s blind side, where he has historically excelled without allowing a single sack in limited snaps. This transition ensures that the Lions’ most gifted protector is now tasked with neutralizing the opposition’s premier edge rushers.
