The NFL Honors ceremony, which will present the league’s post-season awards, will take place next week and, for the first time ever, it will include the Protector of the Year award. The award will be given to the best offensive lineman of the 2025 season. As expected, Detroit Lions right tackle Penei Sewell is a finalist for this award.
The other five finalists are:
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For Sewell, it’s the latest in a string of honors bestowed on the former first-round pick. Earlier this offseason, Sewell was named First-Team All Pro for the third straight season, and he has now made four consecutive Pro Bowls. PFF also named Sewell Protector of the Year after posting a PFF grade of 95.5, the best among all offensive linemen.
“The fifth-year right tackle’s overall PFF grade (95.5) ranks him third among all offensive linemen over the past three seasons and first among right tackles over that span,” PFF’s Zoltán Buday wrote. “While his PFF run blocking grade (95.1) is the highest among all right tackles over the past five years and is behind only Trent Williams’ 2021 season among all offensive linemen.”
The official Protector of the Year award is voted on by a panel of former offensive linemen based on the following criteria: skill, impact, leadership, durability and opponent strength. To find out more about the price, check out the official NFL announcement here.
To see if Sewell wins the award, you can watch the NFL Honors show on Thursday, February 5 at 9 p.m. ET on NBC and NFL Network. Aidan Hutchinson is the only other Lion up for an award. He is a finalist for Defensive Player of the Year and Comeback Player of the Year..
