Born in American Samoa, raised in a shack in the sea , Penei Sewell learned to play football by putting sand and water in the bottom of an empty Aquafina bottle and tossing it back and forth with his brothers: "It's heavy enough. We were smaller back then." Now he's 6'5, 335 pounds and the highest-paid offensive lineman in the NFL.
Sewell shed tears after signing a four-year, $112 million extension with the Lions last week, just like he did three years ago when the team drafted him seventh overall. While he always had a dream of playing in the NFL, he never dreamed like this: "To be where I'm at right now, it's just surreal to me."
"If I was still on the island, I'd probably be a farmer somewhere," Sewell said Monday. "Just planting roots, eating what I plant, going about my day. It's a simple life out there. It's beautiful, but I always knew I wanted more, and the mainland offered that."
Sewell's dad, who coached the high school football team on the island when Sewell was young, moved the family to Utah when he realized his four boys might have futures in the NFL. Sewell was 11 years old at the time, and would go on to star at the University of Oregon. The Lions drafted him as a pillar of their rebuild in 2021, their first pick under Brad Holmes and Dan Campbell. Sewell has become a leader of one of the best teams in the NFL.
On the same day they extended Sewell, the Lions announced a four-year extension for Amon-Ra St. Brown, two of the player-elected captains in their locker room.
"Those guys are truly our core," said Holmes. "Truly our foundation. They were our first draft. It's not only a testament to all the hard work that they’ve done, but it’s such a representation of who we are as an organization in terms of, man, they earned that. We’re all about earning it. All the credit to them. ... Those guys represent everything that we’re about. They embody everything that we’re about. It was a no-brainer to do those extensions."
From Sewell's view, it came together quickly. He wasn't expecting a new deal this offseason, with two years to go on his rookie contract. When his agent called and said, "Hey, we gotta talk," Sewell laughed and said he thought he was in trouble: "I was like ‘Oh, this is bad.’" Just the opposite, of course. The Lions wanted to lock him into their future; the two sides just had to figure out the financials. They met a couple months after the season in California, where Sewell and his wife were preparing for their wedding, and tied the knot soon thereafter.
Sewell realized it was happening when his agent sent him a 3 a.m. text last week saying, "We might get this done tomorrow."
"And I was like, ‘Wait a minute, I gotta call my parents. I gotta let them know,'" said Sewell. "It happened so fast. I’m thankful for (the Lions) for believing in me and just can’t wait to give it back."
Sewell has been a force from the moment he showed up and debuted as the youngest start left tackle in NFL history. He's since become the best right tackle in the league. Pro Football Focus named the league's best offensive lineman, period, last season. He's a mean-mugging, fire-breathing mauler with a heart that he pours into his teammates. He propels the unit that propels the Lions. He's also, now, a father of two, after he and his wife welcomed a daughter into the world last week. Their son turns two in November.
Sewell, who turns 24 in October, smiled and said, "Time's been flying, and I don't like it. Makes me feel like I’m getting older, but I’m not. I’m still young and I’m going to ride that wave."
The tide is rising in Detroit, where the Lions are coming off a season in which they won the NFC North for the first time ever and fell just shy of the Super Bowl. For Sewell, the loss to the 49ers in the NFC title game in which Detroit blew a 17-point halftime lead is still so raw that he took a deep breath when it was broached on Monday and said, "Wow, sensitive topic." He guesses he's rewatched it 10 times this offseason, on TV, or his iPad, "even on my phone."
"I let it burn, just because how close we were," he said. "Yeah, I watch it a lot, not only from that standpoint, but also just trying to get better, seeing what went wrong and what we can work on. So yeah, I say this all the time: It’s on."
Sewell was a first-team All-Pro last season. His new deal, which won't kick in until 2026, is worth $28 million per year and includes $85 million guaranteed, NFL highs for offensive linemen. Individually, he has little left to prove, save year-over-year dominance. The next step, said Sewell, is simple: "To win."
"We need it all," he said. "I had a conversation with Saint after we just found out that we were getting new contracts, and that’s our goal, to hoist that trophy at the end of the day. Just to win, bro. It’s nothing else to it. All those individual accolades don’t mean nothing. Like, I want the big boy, and I want it now."
Offensive linemen typically aren't seen as superstars. Sewell comes pretty close in Detroit. He threw out the first pitch at the Tigers' home opener this season, to roars from the crowd. Sewell roared back. The fans love him like they love St. Brown and Jared Goff, a figure of defiance for a long-suffering franchise. Most players head home for the offseason. A 23-year-old from the South Pacific ocean, Sewell stays home in Detroit. He and his family now live here year-round.
"The way this city has treated me -- and not only me, but my family -- it’s something that I never even imagined," said Sewell. "Because you hear all the stories about coming into the league and how hard it could be, with all the pressure and living up to expectations, but I just came in with the mindset of just giving it my all and hopefully everything else will fall in line. I think that's what's happening. But it was honestly an easy transition to call this place home. I did grow up watching the Lions, watching Megatron. But, yeah, it’s crazy. Truly blessed, forever blessed. And it's a place that could be my forever home."
The day after he was drafted, Sewell showed up in Detroit with his parents. Now he's a parent himself, who said he wants to show his kids "that a dream is possible and you are literally capable of doing anything you set your mind to." He thinks about "all those times on the beach, playing with my brothers and cousins and how far I've truly come, but I don't like to think about it too much because I'm still going."
"I'm still trying to go places. But it's crazy, man. To not have a real football to now playing in the league -- I still don't touch the football, but it's fine," Sewell laughed -- I'm just very thankful for those moments because it truly built who I am today."
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