Oregon LB Noah Sewell would add beef to Detroit Lions defense, give them 'a little' Penei
INDIANAPOLIS — Noah Sewell signed with Oregon out of high school in part to play with his big brother, Penei, but the five-star linebacker never got a chance when Covid disrupted the 2020 season.
Penei Sewell opted out of his junior season at Oregon and was a first-round draft pick by the Detroit Lions the next spring. Now, the brothers are hoping they get a chance to play together in the NFL.
"If I get drafted by the Lions it’ll be truly a blessing," Noah Sewell said Wednesday at the NFL combine.
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Sewell is one of the top linebacker prospects in this year's draft, a potential top-50 pick who played both inside and outside in his three-year college career.
He was the Pac-12 Freshman Defensive Player of the Year and had a team-leading 114 tackles as a sophomore, but his production slipped last fall while playing a new role and, he said, trying to do too much on a defense that was one of the most disappointing in college football.
"I’ll put the blame on myself (for that)," Sewell said. "I feel like I could have done better of communicating the calls a little bit more and making sure everybody was on the same page. But being me, the middle backer, the QB of the defense, I should have been in more control of that."
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Sewell has increasingly rare size for an off-ball linebacker in today's NFL at 250 pounds, a topic he said has come up in combine interviews with teams this week.
"They do question my weight a little bit," he said. "I am on the heavier side of the scale, but I like to kind of stay away from those typical linebackers. I like to be unique with my weight. I can move around, I’m dynamic, I’m athletic and I think I bring a lot to the table with my weight."
He has impressive bloodlines, with Penei already on his way to being one of the best right tackles in the NFL — he made the Pro Bowl as an alternate this season — and middle brother, Nephi, spending last season with the New Orleans Saints.
"Being the youngest, I was always picked on," Noah said. "Can’t forget my sister. My sister was basically our second mother, she kind of overran the house. But being the younger brother, they kind of roughed me up and kind of created me to who I am right now and made me not take any bad things from anybody and just keep it pushing."
Sewell said he leaned on his brothers for advice before the combine and when he was considering making the jump to the NFL.
Penei told the Free Press in January it would be "a blessing" if Noah could follow in his footsteps as a first-round pick, and he said whatever team drafts his brother won't be disappointed.
"I think to be honest, you’re getting a little me," Penei said. "Me and him, we talk a lot. We’re kind of alike, so I feel like honestly, you’re just getting another me."
Noah said he's already better than Penei in some areas.
"I think I got better hands than Penei," he joked in reference to Penei's athletic catch on a tackle-eligible play that sealed a December win over the Minnesota Vikings.
And no matter where he goes in the draft, he'll remain his brother's biggest fan.
“I really love watching that boy play," Noah said. "He really brings a lot of passion to that game. You see every snap, every play, he brings a lot and I’m just trying to match that."
Catch the "Free Press Sports with Carlos and Shawn" podcast every Thursday morning at 5 and on demand on freep.com/podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts. The latest episode, embedded in the middle of this article, counts Dave Birkett as the guest to talk all things Lions, mock drafts, the QB situation and more.
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions in NFL draft: Pair Noah Sewell with brother Penei?
