Penei Sewell is the best right tackle in football. He caught a pass for a key first down in a 2022 game against the Minnesota Vikings. Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell once said Sewell "could be a Hall of Fame tight end."

And if the Lions' fun few minutes at the start of Friday practices are any indication, he might one day add completing a pass to his NFL résumé.

"There’s not much he can’t do, I don’t think," Lions offensive line coach Hank Fraley said Friday. "I looked over (at the start of practice last week) and I was like, 'Where’s Penei?' And then they were like, 'Coach, he’s throwing the ball.' 'Oh, OK.' It was pretty good. Pretty good. He wasn’t 100%, though, so we got to work on that accuracy. But it was good to see."

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The Lions usually open their Friday practices with a few minutes of what Fraley called "fat-and-go," a play on the term pat-and-go.

Offensive players run takeoff routes in two directions on one half of the field. Skill players line up on one side of the field, offensive linemen on the other, and quarterbacks alternate throwing passes down the sideline.

It's a light start to the final practice of the week, before jumping into situational work on red zone plays and third downs.

"We do like to have fun on Fridays, pre-practice," Fraley said. "But then once practice starts, it’s like can we get focused back up so it’s fun to see."

Three Lions offensive linemen — Sewell, Taylor Decker and Dan Skipper — have caught passes since Dan Campbell took over as head coach in 2021, and Fraley said last month that Sewell, Skipper and Kayode Awosika had the best hands among linemen.

"All these guys think they have hands until they don't," Fraley said. "Or you see them do a one-hand catch. It is something fun for those guys to see, but you got some clappers out there that just clamp and don't understand how to catch the ball. I like to laugh more than just — because I always just say, 'Please don't fall,' because they'll try to do a one-hand catch, jump and so we have a good time. It's a good Friday routine. They’ve worked hard all week and then we get mentally right back into focus. We have Friday practice, that's a great Friday prep for us."

Christian values

The Lions must decide by early next week whether to activate rookie offensive guard Christian Mahogany to their 53-man roster or leave him on the nonfootball injury list for the rest of the season.

Campbell said he and general manager Brad Holmes will sit down to discuss Mahogany's immediate future after Sunday's game against the Tennessee Titans. A sixth-round pick out of Boston College, Mahogany is expected to fill a depth role when he returns.

"I will tell you this, he’s gotten better every week," Campbell said. "He’s made strides every week and that has been very noticeable. So, I’m just — standing up here in front of you, I think it would be hard to say that you don’t want to continue this progress, that would be hard to say. But until I talk to Brad, I won’t know for sure on that.”

Dave Birkett's new book, "Detroit Lions: An Illustrated Timeline," is available for purchase online and at local book stores. Contact him at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on X and Instagram at @davebirkett.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions open Friday practices with fun passes to OL