Expert Analysis
5/13/21
2 min read
Giddings: Penei Sewell Was Wrong Pick for the Detroit Lions
Mike Giddings of ProScout Inc. joined the 33rd Team Call this week to share his thoughts on some of his favorite and least favorite picks in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft.
Giddings liked Cincinnati's selection of LSU receiver Ja'Marr Chase with the fifth overall pick. He said he wouldn't have had a problem had the Bengals drafted Oregon OT Penei Sewell, but his research shows that Super Bowl winners over the last 20 years have had an elite receiver more often than they've had an elite tackle.
Sewell ended up being taken two picks later by the Detroit Lions. While Giddings recognized Sewell as a top 10-caliber draft pick, he did not like the Lions' decision.
"It wasn't so much that Sewell's a bad player," Giddings said. "I don't understand the pick. My belief with a top 10 pick is you don't project a guy to a new position. You draft him for the position he's played in college and you go to town."
As Giddings points out, the Lions already have Taylor Decker set at left tackle. Sewell, who played left tackle at Oregon, is already penciled in as the starting right tackle -- even though Detroit paid good money last year for RT Halapoulivaati Vaitai.
"With what was on the board, and with no receiving weapons. and truthfully no running backs ... and we're gonna take the best left tackle in the draft and move him to right tackle? I would have either traded down for picks or I would have taken a rusher or an offensive weapon."
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