Notes: Two Lions make list of 32 top offensive tackles

Two Detroit Lions have made Pro Football Focus’ list of best offensive tackles heading into 2021.

PFF’s Anthony Treash evaluated the men of the trenches and both Taylor Decker and Penei Sewell have made the list. This especially telling as Sewell is the only rookie on the list.

However, Treash notes: “it wouldn’t be a surprise to see multiple first-year players rise up by the end of the year, considering it was one of the deepest tackle classes this century.”

Decker came in at number 19. Treash says the Lion is finally playing the way he did as a rookie in 2016, when he earned a 81.9 PFF grade. He would then miss the first half of 2017 and it wasn’t until 2020 that he found his footing once again.

“Last season, he cracked the top 10 in PFF grade with an 82.0 mark that was anchored by the fifth-best pass-blocking grade among tackles,” Treash writes.

Sewell came in at 31, though the writer notes he’s sure Sewell will eventually reach the top 10.

“Sewell led the Power Five in big-time blocks in 2019, and the 95.8 PFF grade he earned for his efforts — when he was an 18- and 19-year-old — still stands as the best mark in the PFF College era. He’s like a guided missile with the way he tracks down defenders in space,” Treash writes.

He does think Sewell will face a bit of a learning curve in the NFL as the Pac-12 didn’t offer much in the way of real competition, and his college offense limited his true one-on-ones, but “his long-term potential is stardom.”

Read his entire ranking here.

And onto the rest of your notes.

• Also from PFF: Frank Ragnow ranks third in top 32 centers in the league. Nice!

• The Athletic’s Chris Burke and Nick Baumgardner take a stab at a 53-man roster projection, and suggest which position battles to watch. (Subscription required.)

• “He will make for an ideal weapon whom new quarterback Jared Goff can lean on in the middle of the field and in the red zone.” Bleacher Report offers every team’s most exciting undrafted free-agent addition.

• Injuries have limited Da’Shawn Hand’s ability to show just what he’s got, but Lions defensive line coach Todd Wash is feeling optimistic they’ll see something special from him this season. Mlive’s Benjamin Raven has more.

• This:

• Also this???