{"id":860386,"date":"2026-04-08T06:27:21","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T06:27:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/860386\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T06:27:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T06:27:21","slug":"lions-predicted-to-get-very-athletic-lineman-if-penei-sewell-makes-switch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/860386\/","title":{"rendered":"Lions Predicted to Get Very Athletic Lineman If Penei Sewell Makes Switch"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t<img width=\"780\" height=\"439\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2182885851.jpg\" class=\"attachment-featured-image size-featured-image wp-post-image\" alt=\"Penei Sewell\"   decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>Pro Football Network&#8217;s T.J. Randall predicted the Detroit Lions to select Arizona State&#8217;s Max Iheanachor to start at right tackle with Penei Sewell switching to left tackle.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/nfl\/detroit-lions\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Detroit Lions<\/a> face an important question with All-Pro right tackle <a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/nfl\/player\/penei-sewell\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Penei Sewell<\/a> this offseason. The Lions could keep starting Sewell where he\u2019s become a star. Or, the team could flip him to left tackle.<\/p>\n<p>A switch could make it easier for the Lions to find an immediate starter in the <a class=\"wpil_keyword_link\" href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/nfl\/\" title=\"NFL\" data-wpil-keyword-link=\"linked\" data-wpil-monitor-id=\"218692\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NFL<\/a> Draft. The 2026 class is a little thin on offensive tackles, but the Lions could target one early to develop on the right side.<\/p>\n<p>Pro Football Network\u2019s T.J. Randall sees that as the likeliest option for the Lions. Assuming Sewell switches to left tackle, Randall\u00a0slotted Arizona State offensive tackle Max Iheanachor to Detroit at No. 17 overall.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe recent reports regarding Penei Sewell\u2019s move to left tackle open the window of opportunity for Iheanachor to slide in naturally on the right side, versus moving the likes of Iheanachor to the opposite side of the offensive line,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.profootballnetwork.com\/2026-nfl-mock-draft-7-round-randall-april\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external nofollow\">wrote Randall<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Iheanachor would give the Lions an extremely athletic right tackle. Randall wrote he became just the seventh offensive tackle over the past 23 years to weigh more than 320 pounds and run a sub-5 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine.<\/p>\n<p>NFL.com\u2019s Lance Zierlein raved about Iheanachor\u2019s unique blend of size and athleticism.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAn ascending, traits-heavy tackle prospect, Iheanachor is a former high school hooper and late-comer to football,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nfl.com\/prospects\/max-iheanachor\/32004948-4507-4158-69c6-9023feca6811\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external nofollow\">wrote Zierlein<\/a>. \u201cHe has good length and excellent lean mass.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn a year light on high-end tackles, Iheanachor\u2019s measurables, athleticism and upside could push him up the board.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/author\/dmholcomb\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Dave Holcomb<\/a> is a sports reporter covering the NFL and MLB for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Pittsburgh Steelers and a variety of other NFL teams. Originally from Pittsburgh, Holcomb has covered college and professional sports for outlets including FanSided, Rotowire and Yardbarker.  <a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/author\/dmholcomb\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">More about Dave Holcomb<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Lions\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Pro Football Network&#8217;s T.J. Randall predicted the Detroit Lions to select Arizona State&#8217;s Max Iheanachor to start&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":860387,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2071],"tags":[146,113,2506,7,147,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-860386","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-detroit-lions","8":"tag-detroit","9":"tag-detroit-lions","10":"tag-detroitlions","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-lions","13":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=860386"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860386\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/860387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=860386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=860386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=860386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}