Penei Sewell's comments on Giovanni Manu give real optimism on what felt like a risky pick, but he may need more time to cook

Last year, when NFL scouts went out to Canada to scope out British Columbia tackle Theo Benedet, everyone stumbled upon his counterpoint, Giovanni Manu. Half the league became enamored with him and had him out to their building for a top-30 visit. The Detroit Lions were one of them. 

The Lions were also the team that decided they needed to have him. The Lions traded in the fourth round of the 2025 NFL Draft to snag him. 

There was no secret that, while physically and athletically, he's gifted, but he was very green. The Lions gave him essentially a redshirt season to get ready in 2024, and the word was that he improved quite a bit. 

Over the offseason, he's been working out in Arizona with Taylor Decker, trying to get better at playing the position. Lions All-Pro tackle Penei Sewell was asked about that on Thursday and talked about where he sees Manu right now. 

"It's always good to see. I mean, obviously social media is a thing so everyone can kind of see what he's got going on over there in Arizona. And it's always good to work with a teammate. So he's out there with big dog (Taylor Decker)  just holding it down. And, yeah, he's just coming back, trying to build upon what he was kind of doing before the season ends, and he was doing some great things. So he's building upon that technically. And right now, I think the mental aspect is where he's got to go." 

So the technical ability is coming along, and that's good to hear, but it sounds like the mental part of the game needs to come along, and that can come along with reps. Something we should see Manu get more of in 2025. 

So it would seem he needs a little bit more time to cook, and that's fine, nobody expected Manu to be a finished product in 2025, and the Lions don't really need him to be that just yet. This is positive and optimistic, though.