The NFL’s most box-office player today is … an offensive tackle? | Oliver Connolly

Jared Goff may be the Detroit Lions' most important player as they take aim at a first Super Bowl appearance, but Penei Sewell is the team's best

Saquon Barkley is leaping over defenders. Fred Warner is hitting everything in sight. Wherever you look, Lamar Jackson is slinging fire. And yet the best show going in the NFL through 10 weeks is one of the big guys up front: Lions right tackle Penei Sewell.

It can be easy to miss tackles. They do a lot of their best work in the shadows. Like a good official, if you can get through a game without noticing them, without a commentator saying their name, you know they've done their primary job of keeping a quarterback upright. But Sewell has ascended to box-office status as the Lions rip their way through the league.