DETROIT — On a first-quarter play on Thanksgiving, Penei Sewell lined up at tight finish as a substitute of his ordinary proper sort out place. On the snap of the ball, the 6-foot-5, 335-pound Sewell turned and burst into his personal backfield on an finish round. He took a handoff from quarterback Jared Goff whereas operating to his proper and regarded to throw. Then he reverted to what he knew greatest.
His stiff arm took Bears linebacker Jack Sanborn to the bottom — and has since develop into a viral meme. Sewell then broke a sort out try by linebacker Tremaine Edmunds earlier than three defenders wrestled him to the sideline in one of the vital spectacular sacks taken in NFL historical past.
That’s how Sewell performed as a toddler in Samoa. Whereas a few of his future Lions teammates skilled with digital actuality goggles underneath the supervision of $200-an-hour coaches, Penei and his brothers used a water bottle stuffed with a mix of sand and water for a ball. If one wasn’t out there, they could use a coconut.
They made their fields on sea foam. Three in opposition to three or 4 in opposition to 4, they left marks within the sand and on each other. Their video games didn’t take a look at talent as a lot as mettle. “It was extra like rugby model than precise soccer,” he says. “We have been largely targeted on hitting.”
And that’s why, for a second at Ford Discipline final week, it was as if Sewell was again the place he started.
A novel mix of measurement, power, pace and explosiveness, Penei Sewell may be one of the best athlete within the NFL. (Gregory Shamus / Getty Photos)
Within the early Nineties, Tropical Cyclones Ofa and Val hit American Samoa, devastating the small island chain positioned roughly midway between Hawaii and New Zealand. The Malaeimi village home Gabe Sewell lived in along with his mother and father, sister, brother and two cousins was destroyed. Half of the construction nonetheless stood, however all that was left of the opposite half was wooden planks, tin roof decking and different constructing supplies. Gabe and the boys cleaned up the particles and used it to construct a second home on the property. It was solely 400 sq. ft, however they fortified and expanded it over time.
They known as it “The Shack,” and it later grew to become the house of Gabe, his spouse, Arlene, and their 5 kids — together with Penei, the third of their 4 sons.
The Shack didn’t have a sink within the space they known as the kitchen, so the boys took the dinner dishes with them within the bathe. If it was raining arduous sufficient, they didn’t activate the water as a result of the rusted roof above them leaked a lot. There was no air-con, washer, dryer or vacuum cleaner. They’d a tv, however only some channels, and to get reception they often needed to slap the again of it.
The Shack had only one bed room, but it surely was designated because the holding place for garments so nobody slept in it. As a substitute, in the lounge, they put down a big mattress a couple of inches thick. Gabe and Arlene lay within the center with the youngsters surrounding them. Typically, it wasn’t simply instant household. They often have been joined by a cousin and different youngsters from the island — with as many as 11 individuals at a time sleeping on that mattress.
“There was a lot laughter, a lot taking part in and so many chores, we didn’t suppose something of it,” Gabe says. “We have been at all times busy, and we loved one another’s firm. The village youngsters would come and keep for a pair days. It was at all times good having all the youngsters round.”
They grew ulu, often known as breadfruit, of their yard and reduce their grass with a machete. They jumped off large rocks into the Pacific and used wires and hooks with out poles to catch fish. They ran up Matai Mountain, explored after which slid down.
Gabe’s father was a farmer. He ready kalua pig — cooked within the earth — and introduced it to Sunday get-togethers with different villagers, a potluck feast they name a to’ona’i. It was a easy life. “Wealthy with love,” Arlene says.
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An American territory since 1900, Samoa was launched to soccer after a wave of funding within the islands within the Sixties. Since 1971, greater than 40 gamers born on the islands have performed within the NFL, and gamers of Samoan descent — like Corridor of Famers Junior Seau and Troy Polamalu — have develop into a few of the league’s brightest stars.
In line with the Polynesian Soccer Corridor of Fame, there are greater than 60 present NFL gamers of Polynesian descent. And regardless that Polynesians comprise solely .003 % of the U.S. inhabitants, they made up 5.1 % of the gamers chosen within the 2024 draft.
In 2011, Steelers nice Polamalu visited Samoa with different soccer gamers, together with NFL stars Ryan Clark, Deuce Lutui, Rey Maualuga, Shaun Nua and Domata Peko — “One of many largest issues I can bear in mind,” Gabe says. The three-day camp was for highschool youngsters, however Penei, then 11, was capable of take part as a result of Gabe coached at Marist Excessive Faculty. The professional gamers introduced cleats for greater than 600 highschool gamers and uniforms for seven groups. The children carried out a Siva Tau conflict dance in Polamalu’s honor.
Assembly Polamalu, who by no means lived on the islands, made the NFL really feel attainable to Penei and others in attendance. Not coincidentally, 5 gamers who went to that camp now play within the league: Penei, his brothers Nephi and Noah — linebackers with the Saints and Bears, respectively — Patriots defensive sort out Daniel Ekuale and Commanders linebacker Frankie Luvu.
In 2012, Gabe began searching for higher medical care after experiencing chest ache. He and Arlene additionally knew their kids would have extra alternatives in america. However when the household deliberate their transfer to Utah, Penei objected, asking if he may keep in Samoa along with his auntie. The reply, happily for him, was no.
Sewell and Justin Herbert helped carry Oregon to victory over Wisconsin within the 2020 Rose Bowl. (Kevork Djansezian / Getty Photos)
Six years later, Sewell was one of the vital extremely recruited linemen within the nation at Desert Hills Excessive Faculty in St. George, Utah. He selected Oregon from 23 scholarship presents, then began at left sort out in his first sport. As a sophomore, he grew to become the primary Polynesian to win the Outland Trophy as one of the best inside lineman in school soccer.
On the finish of that season, he warmed up for the 2020 Rose Bowl, the largest sport of his life. He was within the zone, not seeing or listening to something, as he walked onto the sphere. However then he heard a voice calling his title.
“It was Isabelle,” he says of the Oregon cheerleader who had been an acquaintance for a few yr. “We locked eyes for a second, and I simply remembered that it felt good. It was, like, bizarre. After which I needed to snap again out of it and go play the sport.”
Sewell’s devastating blocks helped Oregon beat Wisconsin 28-27. Then he walked away with the roses — and the woman. A number of months later, with COVID-19 isolation guidelines in impact, he stayed with Isabelle and her household. He opted out of the following season and declared for the 2021 draft.
Sewell grew to become the primary draft decide of the Brad Holmes/Dan Campbell regime in Detroit and has thrived since being moved to proper sort out, the place he’s broadly thought of one of the best within the NFL. Quarterback Jared Goff, who threw Sewell a 9-yard cross in 2022, says he may be one of the best athlete within the NFL.
Campbell, who used Sewell on a hook-and-ladder play this yr, has stated if he had a replica of the lineman, one would play tight finish. “I’m not kidding,” the coach, a former NFL tight finish himself, says. And given Sewell’s passing project final week, he may be the one offensive lineman in historical past extra more likely to be sacked than to surrender one.
Sewell’s athleticism and flexibility enable the Lions to maneuver him throughout the sphere after the snap of the ball, making him a weapon within the display screen sport. Lions middle Frank Ragnow believes he is among the most dear non-quarterbacks within the league: “On the subject of the whole lot he does as a sort out, he’s one in all one.” Ragnow additionally says Sewell is among the hardest practising gamers on the Lions, which makes him the embodiment of Campbell’s “chunk a kneecap off” mentality.
Some — together with ESPN’s Mina Kimes and Mike Greenberg and NFL Community’s Gregg Rosenthal — have advised Sewell must be a candidate for offensive participant of the yr, an award that has by no means been received by an offensive lineman.
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At 24, Sewell is a two-time captain. Final yr, Goff requested him to take over the weekly pregame speeches on the sphere. Sewell will get very animated, and all of it comes from the guts. “After I’m giving these speeches, I can’t see, I can’t hear,” he says. “I simply communicate.”
“He’s a great man with a great coronary heart, however put him on the sphere and he turns into a grizzly bear that desires you out of his territory,” Campbell says. “He’s a staff man that’s aggressive, robust, gritty, good, hardworking and resilient. Calling him a cornerstone piece is promoting him quick — he’s the slab underneath all of it.”
The morning after the Lions’ Monday night time victory over the Seahawks in Week 4, Arlene was making ready to depart Penei’s home for the airport close to 5 a.m. when she discovered him nonetheless awake reviewing tape of the 13-point win. Arlene works in Hawaii because the chief data officer at Brigham Younger Hawaii, and every time she travels to the mainland to observe one in all her sons play, she brings a Ti leaf lei —an “ula” in Samoan.
“It symbolizes our love and prayers of safety,” she says. “I additionally pray that our ancestors are with them.”
On Penei’s proper shoulder and arm is an ornate tattoo that pays homage to his heritage. Waves symbolize the facility that lies inside in addition to the calm essential to climate life’s storms. A centipede serves as a reminder of all creatures’ significance. Birds symbolize messengers from a higher being who can information us by worldly challenges. On his proper interior biceps is the phrase “Samoa.”
When Polamalu visited the islands, Sewell was struck by the Steeler nice’s gentleness after seeing fierceness on the sphere. He was fascinated with the duality. Sewell needed to be like Polamalu. Nonetheless does.
“He was so soft-spoken and real, very real. He might need been the nicest man on earth,” Sewell says. “Now I really feel there are children on the market who really feel the identical method about me as I felt about him, so I attempt to stay my life as a great instance. The torch has been handed on.”
Sewell, left, is a a lot totally different individual off the sphere, particularly at house with son Malaki and spouse Isabelle. (Dan Pompei / The Athletic)
Polynesian gamers in highschool and school typically message him on Instagram telling him he’s a job mannequin. Sewell has labored along with his youthful cousin, Kingsley Suamataia, a rookie offensive sort out for the Chiefs, and inspired his three Polynesian teammates — sort out Gio Manu, guard Netane Muti and operating again Sione Vaki.
“I see him as an inspiration as a result of my household’s completed the identical factor as his, making the good migration to America and going by trials and tribulations,” Manu says. “It’s inspiring, and it motivates me to hopefully be in his footwear in the future.”
Penei and his siblings haven’t been again to Samoa since they left. They’ve talked about returning as a household sometime and internet hosting the form of gathering Polamalu did. For now, there are different priorities.
Final offseason, Penei signed a four-year, $112 million contract extension with the Lions that made him the highest-paid lineman within the NFL. Shortly after he signed the deal, he purchased a brand new house — one with about 6,000 extra sq. ft of residing house than The Shack. Over the summer season, the cheerleader and the soccer participant grew to become Mrs. and Mr. They’re mother and father to Malaki, 2, and Mila, 1. Isabelle is anticipating their third little one.
Penei takes Malaki to the park nearly each day. Malaki likes it when Penei chases him and cries when his father leaves for apply. Penei offers each of his kids baths earlier than bedtime, then he dims the lights and cradles them. As their eyelids develop into heavy, he sings a track his mother and father sang to him — and their mother and father sang to them.
Samoan college students begin their faculty day with it. The devoted sing it earlier than prayer. Mothers and dads like Arlene and Gabe sing it earlier than athletic occasions. Softly and sweetly, Penei sings “Fa’afetai I Le Atua” to his kids.
Fa’afetai i le atua
lena tatou tupu ai
ina ua na alofa fua
ia te tatou uma
Translated, it means:
Thanks, be to God
Who’s our creator
For his unconditional love,
He offers to us all
And for a second, Penei Sewell is again the place he began.
(Illustration: Demetrius Robinson / The Athletic; pictures courtesy of the Sewell household, Kevin Sabitus, Fiona Goodall / Getty Photos)
