18. Isabelle Sewell on Motherhood, Finding Confidence, and Life with the Detroit Lions

0:22I'm Victoria. I'm Giovanna. The game's on. Welcome back to another episode of your favorite NFL podcast by the girls for everyone, The Game. Today, we have the pleasure of bringing you our interview with Isabel Sewell. Isabel is such a joy to talk to. She is the type of friend every girl needs to have. Kind, honest, funny, and very real about her experiences as a woman and a mom. She is a mom of three. We talk about her relationship with her plus one, Penny Sewell, offensive tackle for the Detroit Lions. We talk about her relationship with her mom and her sister and what she has done to build her confidence as a young mom after having three under three at the age of 25.

1:09Her plus one, Penny joined the Lions as a first round draft pick, seventh overall in the 2021 NFL draft out of Oregon. He became the second highest drafted offensive tackle in franchise history and Detroit's youngest first round pick in the common draft era. He was 2021 Pro Football Focus All-Rookie Team, 2021 PFWA All-Rookie Team, Pro Bowl 2022, 2023, and 2024, and First Team All-Pro in 2023 and 2024. He has also been a team captain on the Detroit Lions. And in 2024, he signed a four-year contract extension that made him the highest paid offensive tackle in the league at the time. So Isabel and Penne have been together for quite some time.

1:56They are now in Detroit until at least 2028. We get into a little bit about Isabel's NFL experience and her experience with the Detroit Lions, the team, and the other girls that surround her on it. without further ado, let's get into the interview.

2:18Isabel Sewell, welcome to the game. Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited. Yeah, we are so excited to talk to you. We're so excited to talk to you about kind of your lifestyle, how everything has changed. And then you are a mom of three, so we can't wait to get some mom advice, especially with such a big life and so much going on. We were just talking about your son being three. So you definitely have your hands full. So we will get into all of that and all of your advice. But let's start off with taking us back to Oregon, where you met your plus one Penny Swool, who is on the Lions with a long-term contract.

2:57So how did you guys meet and what was life like before the NFL? Yeah. So like you said, we met at the University of Oregon. I grew up in Oregon, so I lived there my whole life. And I grew up dancing. So I don't know if you guys know this, but the Oregon cheer team has a very strong like dance side of it where it's not like all stunting and like palm and all of that. They have the stunt side, but they also have a dance side that like you get to do all the sideline stuff, but then you go out on the field and perform during the game. So I was really excited about that. And I knew that was something that I wanted to do.

3:32A lot of the girls that I grew up dancing with went into the Oregon cheer program. So I was really excited about that. As soon as I made the team, I was like ecstatic. And I guess that's kind of like what funneled into me meeting Panay because like all of the athletes and it's so, I don't know, like we're like barely athletes at the university of Oregon. Like they don't really consider cheer to be athletes, or at least they didn't at the time when we were there, we got like the short end of the stick a lot, but yeah so everybody kind of like hangs out with each other everybody knows each other and so that's kind of how we met each other we were friends for probably like the first year very like like acquaintancy friends we like had met a couple of times but they was like very much a recluse like he didn't leave his apartment ever so I hardly ever saw him out but yeah I would say like sophomore year was when him and I actually started talking more over social media, really.

4:32Of course. And yeah, we just started hanging out more like one-on-one, not just like seeing each other out. And yeah, it kind of just like, I would say beginning of 2019. Yeah. That was sophomore year was kind of when we started talking more in 2020, right before COVID happened is when we like officially were together, got together. And then you're like, let's spend every day together. yeah he like actually because covid happened and nobody knew obviously like what the state of the world was going to be if football was going to continue or anything so he didn't want to go back to utah just in case where his family was just in case football picked back up so he decided to come and live with my family in our house in portland after we had been dating for like two months and And so, yeah, we really just like dove headfirst into everything.

5:22And it just kind of snowballed from there. We really got to know each other really fast. And yeah. Did both of you like know like, okay, this is my person? Or did it take like diving into it really, really fast to be like, okay, this is going to work. Like we actually, you know what I mean? Yeah, I feel like I knew just like based off like the type of person that he was and the way he carried himself, the way he like the things that he values and prioritizes were super important to me. So like, I feel like on that aspect, I knew, but then especially jumping into like him living with me and my family in our home and seeing how he integrated with my family and just like, we were just able to beat ourselves around each other.

6:03And I was like, okay, yeah, this is, this is real. This is for life. So that's so cute. Yeah. For lifers. I know. Yeah. For lifers. I didn't realize that. I mean, I knew that you danced, but I didn't really put together. This is like classic American love story. Like usually it's in high school when you see it like cheerleader, like get together, have this like perfect little life. I know. I really wish like, well, I don't wish we would have stayed at Oregon because obviously we wouldn't be where we are now, but like we never got, I never got to cheer a football game that he was playing in when we were dating because COVID happened.

6:41So we don't have any of like the photos or like anything like that, but it is what it is. You'll just have to settle for the NFL sideline photos. I know they'll get me complaining. No, but I am like, when you said we don't have any of the photos, I like had a photo in my head of like exactly what I know. Photoshop we'll like yeah yeah definitely ai that now oh a hundred percent yeah definitely it's possible so are you guys the same year yeah we're the same year but he is what is that six months younger than me so yeah yeah but you guys graduated at the same time because i was like oh you went well actually no we didn't graduate we both left early yeah hey sophomore year was when 2020 COVID.

7:28And then we just, and then you never went back. Peace out. Yep. Peace out. I don't need this anymore. I still like sophomore year. I didn't know what I wanted to do. I was just doing like gen eds and I was honestly probably a little bit depressed. I like never left my, I guess I was in an apartment at that time. And yeah, I like wasn't doing well in school. And the only part of it that I liked was cheer. So when he left, we obviously had a lot of really hard, not left, but when he declared for the draft and that he was going to go to the NFL, we had a lot of like hard conversations about what that was going to look like.

8:07Am I going to go with him? Am I going to stay and finish school still not knowing what I wanted to do and keep wasting my parents' money away? So I was like, you know what? I don't know what I want to do. I do know that I want to be a mom. So we just decided that that's what would be best for us. And long distance was not a part of that plan. Yeah. So you said, all right, let's, let's make it happen. So he declares for the draft. You're like, yeah, I don't need, it's very self-aware of you though, to be like, I don't know what I'm doing. This feels wrong. I don't want to waste my parents' money just because like I said, I was going to go to college if I don't care about college.

8:46Like, yeah i don't know it's like kind of a power move to be like i know that i this isn't i'm not sure right now and i don't want to waste any money versus like going through and you can always go back yeah you can always go back yeah yeah but i also love the fact that like you're like i want to be a mom like that is my jam and i know because i think it's a superpower obviously that all of us women have is to like be able to bring children in this world and like raise them in a very healthy and loving environment. But there are some girls that are just like really destined to like, that's what they want to do.

9:19And they're really good at it. So I do think it's just really admirable of you. Like, Hey, I'm going to step away from college. You do your career. I love that for you. I will support you, but I want to be a mom and I want to do it with you. And that's just like, again, like what Victoria said, very self-aware and I love that. Yeah. Yeah. That's really cute okay before we get into all of the momming so you guys decide we're declaring for the draft and we're moving wherever we're gonna go what did that process look like for panay but also for you like what did how long did it take yeah so okay gosh i really gotta think back here yeah so he declared for the draft i want to say like mid no I want to say it was like end of summer of 2020 and he was like okay I'm gonna go to the NFL or like try to go to the NFL and from there he moved out to California with his agency that he decided to pick which was athletes first and they had like a training facility and they had housing all in one building so the place that he moved into he literally would just go up to the rooftop and like that's where he would work out and he pretty much never left the building and I did initially move out there with him and I feel like like any relationship everybody has their like hard times so this was like a very very hard time for us and there was a lot of ups and downs so I did move out there with him ended up coming back home because that was not a place that I needed to be for that time.

10:58So yeah, I ended up moving back home. I just continued working because I was working before I moved out there with him. I went back and actually got like a new job at Lululemon, continued working all the way up until the draft. And I would like go visit him every, every couple of weeks. Yeah. But yeah, so that's kind of what that process looked like. And then I actually was not at draft day. I was home. Yeah. I probably shouldn't expand on that, but I was not at draft day. So I got to watch that from my home. Yeah. From the comfort of your own couch and sweatpants or whatever you want to wear.

11:38I got to find out with everyone else. It was great. Yeah. It's so, draft is so one of the craziest things to me because when you talk to people who are in it, they're like, that day is insanely stressful. It's not like on TV. It looks like you put the hat on. It's like this great thing, but like there's so many conversations, like a lot of like your entire life is on the line, essentially. Like, are you going to play? Are you not going to play? And then where are you going? Where are you going? It's a really, like, I remember again, watching from my home and watching on the TV and he was supposed to go to the Bengals, I believe.

12:17I don't remember. Maybe they were number six or number seven. I don't remember exactly, but they were right before the Lions. And I was like, okay, we're going to Cincinnati. Like they had told us that weeks prior that he was like 95 % chance going to Cincinnati. So I was on Zillow, like Cincinnati. And I was scared because it's not, there's not a lot going on in Cincinnati. So yeah, when they didn't pick him, I was like, oh my God, where are we going? And then thank God he got picked by the Lions. But at the time I was like Detroit and like all the things you hear about that on the news. I was like, oh Lord, I'm a little scared.

12:55So thankfully we've had a completely different experience than that. And we absolutely love it here. And I genuinely wouldn't want to be anywhere else. And I think Panae would say the same as far as like the group of guys that he has on the team, the coaching staff, just like everything about the organization and Michigan we love. So we're very lucky. Yeah. That's awesome. And having, I feel like a long-term contract is like now obviously is so helpful in that of like, so helpful down and like getting comfortable and being like, okay, we're going to live here. We're not just like here. We're going to like live.

13:31Yeah. And like, and I think that's a really like tough thing about the NFL that we have been very lucky in, but we've seen like the other side of it through other people and other players of like they come in, they're here for a week and they get injured or maybe they don't have the best game and then they're gone. And it's like, we are, we feel so lucky that we have that stability, even though like anyone in the NFL, like you could be traded, like anything could always happen, but we're definitely on, like, I guess if there was a scale, we are on the more like stable end of it, which like I said, we are so blessed and so lucky to be in that position.

14:10Yeah. Yeah. So So you guys, you get drafted, you decide to move to Detroit. How is it moving like the first time? Like, were you nervous? Were you excited? I think I was really excited just because it was, it just kind of felt like a fresh start for us. Like we were going to a place where we didn't have like either of our families and we fully had to just depend on each other and be there for each other. So I think it was really, really good for us. And like, I knew in my head that this was like the make or break moment. Like if I go and things go great, like this is going to work forever. And if I go and things don't go well, then like that was what it was meant to be.

14:56And that was what was going to show me that. Yeah. I think moving in is, is because he obviously lived with you, with your family, which is he and your parents close? I mean yeah he's not like I wouldn't say they're closest and like they text every single day but like he loves yeah like he loves having my parents out here my parents come a lot to help me with the kids and they're very present in my life like my family my parents and I have always been so close probably like too close to some people like I call my mom probably like six times a day and yeah we just we talk all the time so I think that was also like very different for him and he was like, whoa, like why, why are you calling your mom all the time?

15:41And like, why are they so involved? You're like, I'm just a girl. I need my mom. Are you kidding? I know. Yeah. I talked to my mom and my sister too. Like my sister's my best friend. So I think that was a really different family dynamic for him to see when he lived with us. And I think he really liked it. he says he likes the way family is. So yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But then you move in without family. And I, I really believe like, I know that some people are like, we don't move in before marriage. I've lived with a couple of boyfriends and I feel like, you know, you know, you know, pretty quick, you know, pretty quick if it's going to work out, even if, and people are like, well, we've slept over like every night for, and I'm like, it's not until you're having the worst day ever.

16:31And you come home to like, whatever their flaw is and like everything, like you just find out so fast when you move in, it's either the best or it's like, Oh, we're here. I live here now. Yep. I can't escape you. I can't. Yeah. How was it like making friends when you moved? It was, I mean, I think because like, this is an interesting situation. Like this isn't something that like most people move and they're like basically handed a group of girls on a platter, like, okay, these are your friends. This is who you're going to be hanging out with all the time. and like everybody who's kind of going through the same thing.

17:16So that part of it made it so much easier. And because the year that we came in was like, I think one of the most transformative years in the Lions, like they had fired a bunch of people. They had brought in Jared and Aminra was drafted and like so many new people were brought in. So we all came in together, which was really nice. And the existing group of girls that was here were just, again, I'm like the sweetest girls ever. So down to earth. I remember Lucy Ragnow was like the first person to text me and like just brought me right in. And yeah, it's crazy. Now they're, he's retired and she's gone and I'm so sad, but yeah, no, we have such a good group of girls here and it was great to be able to come into that.

18:03Yeah. Yeah. We, when we talked to Brooklyn, And she was saying that like the what you see online about the Lions culture is like truly what it's like probably even better in real life that like it is. Yeah, I think it is better. Yeah. Yeah. They're like all the girls are like actually nice and actually warm and like you're really supported by the team. And yeah. So a lot of the girls are pretty curious about, you know, the culture of being like a wife and girlfriend. friend. So obviously we've said like, it's really good, but can you expand on like, kind of like the culture, you know, game days or like day to day life?

18:42What does that kind of look like? Feel like? Yeah, I would say honestly, like Monday to Saturday, like it's pretty regular. Like I'm just, you know, taking care of my kids and we do on Wednesdays, we have, we call it baby rave and we have a music class at my house. We bring a bunch of the kids and parents and this girl that's like incredible. It's called, I think her, her business is called tunesies and she comes and she does like this whole music class in our basement for all the babies. So like we have that, that we all do together. What else? I mean, we'll just like, we have a big group me message.

19:24So if anybody is like planning something or like an event or something, everything gets sent into the group me even if you're just like okay I'm taking my kids to the park this park if anyone wants to meet us there like anything you could imagine to like hang out with each other is always set in the group me so that's really nice but yeah the like only day that I feel like is glamorous is game day yeah like that's the only day that I'm putting makeup on that's the only day that I'm getting out of my sweatpants like really that I feel like every other day it's like you're just, you're just a regular, regular person.

20:02Yeah. Yeah. I feel like when I started doing these interviews, one of the more surprising things was that I was interviewing Allie and she's like, it's basically a nine to five. Like he leaves at like, I don't know, seven 30 or something gets back at six. And then he's just, my husband is just like very normal, like at kind of average work day, which you don't think like, Oh, athletes, like they're doing this all the time. And I'm sure they're like, you know, some of them are like watching tape, doing whatever, but like it's not like other people don't bring work home like it's 6 30 i'm in paris and i'm recording this and whether i have a boyfriend or not i'm going to be recording this so like this is like you know average exactly average work day they just happen to have like a yeah and they definitely do bring work home like as far as like what penne will get home he'll hang out with us and the kids and then he watches film all the time on his ipad like he's constantly during season, like constantly watching film, even when he comes home and he does like physical therapy stuff at home, like massages and just stuff like that.

21:02So he's, it's really, football is always present in our lives during the season, which is obviously understandable. Yeah. Okay. This is kind of chaotic to say, but I feel like NFL players are kind of iPad kids because they do their play on the field and they come back to the bench and they sit down and they watch their iPad and they get home from school and they bring their iPad. Yeah. Yeah. The iPad is everywhere. Yeah. It has to. Yeah. I didn't even think of it like that. That's kind of funny, actually. There is this interesting question. And I feel like you can provide a lot of good insight on this because you're a mom but obviously like okay there's a poll that was done by espn by fans and basically realize that fans want the nfl to be longer they want the season to be longer for me as an nfl girl and i can see your reaction i would like we would all kill to have football on our screens 365 days a year but realistically from your perspective give me the tea on like what really goes down the paint in terms of like the season being longer is it an absolute no I think so I don't actually know how this works like how they would approve that but I do I think if I'm correct I think the players get to vote I'm not sure like I don't think that's the only way they approve it but I think the players do get input a little bit and as far as from what I've heard that would be a universal no across the board from the players I also think from my perspective like the season is already so long it feels like and I don't know like you could have a season where your bye week is the first bye week and then you have so many games in a row and um yeah it's just a lot physically for them and when you get to the end of the regular season and everyone is just so beat up like last year we had so many injuries and it's like they really need that off-season time to recover and just kind of like build everything back up let their bodies heal and then get back into football shape so I think extending the football season would not be ideal it also would take away from like the family time of the off season a little bit.

23:34Yeah. I personally would not enjoy that, but I get it. I get that people want to see more football. It makes sense. Yeah. I think that's like a, that's a probably overall statement from people that actually live and breathe it versus people that just watch other screens. Yeah. People were sitting in their pajamas the entire day on Sunday, like housing some wings. They're like, we want more. Yeah. Give me more, please. And the players are like, excuse me. Like, honestly, it's really not enough. Yeah. Yeah. Like, except the love that we're giving you. Okay. Okay. And you have a husband and your brother-in-law are both in the NFL brother-in-laws brother-in-laws.

24:20How is that? Like, do you see any of that like family rivalry or is there family rivalry? There really isn't because I feel like the way that we all look at it is like, yes, obviously my husband plays for the lions and I always, always want to see the lions when, so like, unless we're playing each other, then I don't like when we're playing each other. My main, my main goal is that both of them, honestly, everybody on the field, that's always my goal, but both of them are healthy and both of them have a good game. Um, cause as we know, like this is a team sport. So while you may have a great game, your team could still lose.

24:59yeah so i just always want both of them to have a good game and both of them to be healthy when they're playing each other and then when they're not playing each other i obviously want them to win their game and i want us to win our game so yeah it's not very it's not there's not really any rivalry yeah it's just like just like family being like wow great that we all did this yeah we all a lot of times like their family yeah a lot of times their family will like make shirts for the boys when they like play each other. And it's like, you know, like the half and half thing. Yeah. Yeah. I love that.

25:34That's so fun. That's cute. Yeah. Okay. So speaking of family, you're a mom. Yes. You have three kids. I do. Yeah. And you're also a quote unquote younger mom in 2025. So you're 25, correct? 25. Yeah. Okay. 25. And you have of your three kids. So how is being a mom in reality compared to what you imagined being a mom would be like at this point? Yeah, I think that's actually a really good question. I, like I said, I always knew I wanted to be a mom. I was obsessed with kids from a young age. I have like pictures of me still probably under 10 years old, like holding babies. And if there was babies at birthday parties.

26:23I was like hanging out with babies all the time, like, and all the other kids would be playing. Like that was, I've always gravitated towards that. I've nannied since I was legally able to like babysit, I've been babysitting. So I feel like it's just kind of in my blood, like to want to be a mom. So, however, I do feel like a little bit that with social media and social, social media being like a highlight reel and not necessarily always showing the realities and like maybe some of the negatives or not negatives, but like the struggles, I guess would be a good word of motherhood. It doesn't really highlight that or show that.

27:03So I was like seeing all these things about being a mom and I'm like, oh my gosh, so cute and so great and so easy. So fun. I love babies. Yeah. I'm like, I love babies. I want like a hundred of them. Now, now after having kids, after my first one, I was like, whoa, like this was like a bit of a shock of like how hard it is. And especially not having family when you have a baby around to not only help you, but just like, that's your village. Those are the people that supported you your whole life and grew up with you and you want them to be there for those moments. So not being able to have that, like, yes, my parents came and visited all the time, but like, it's, it's still just different.

27:44Yeah. So I think that was another really harsh reality. And like, it really just gave me a reality check very quickly. And like, in no way am I saying that I regret having kids. It's the best thing I ever did. And I love them so much and can't imagine life without them. But I think that one thing that people like, people really just need to know about the good and the bad or like the good and the struggles of motherhood because I feel like girls are now having babies earlier, younger, and maybe don't necessarily know what they're getting themselves into. And I try my best to talk about at least both sides of it because I felt like I didn't know that.

28:29And I want to make sure people, you know, know the struggles as well as like how amazing it is. Right. Right. And also just know that it's like, okay, to admit that there's yeah oh my gosh just like in any part of life life is not sunshine and rainbows all the time and that is completely normal and I think when you think that life is always sunshine and rainbows for everyone else and then that's not your experience it can create a lot of like depression and anxiety and things like that you're like why does my life not look like that so I think it's really important to talk about your reality even if it's not what you think everyone else's looks like because I promise you it does look like that yeah yeah I had like I don't know where I saw this but I saw someone online just say they were like yeah I'm a human and I've been like recently thinking like I've been having a lot of very human moments lately where I'm like it's not necessarily like it's not bad if you have like a really bad day or if like you're really stressed out or something's like way harder than you thought it was going to be it just like literally make you a human and we forget because we're like oh well we like label things that aren't great as like bad when they're like really just, it just like is like, it's okay if things sometimes.

29:40Yeah. There doesn't need to be a label for it. Yeah. Like it can just be like, Oh, this is, this is a day and I'm going to cry it out. And then I'm going to go to bed and pray that tomorrow's better. And we're just like having a human time. And I like really liked that, like reframe in my life recently, especially when there's like a lot of good that's going on. Like I have a lot of good stuff going on and like being a mom is such a great thing that like, it doesn't have to be like good or bad either. It can just be like, well, this is what it is. People go through this. Yeah. And you'll get like the beginning, especially having young kids, like it's, it's such a struggle.

30:17There's amazing moments. Don't get me wrong, but like I have three kids under three. My last two are a year apart. Their birthdays are 10 days apart. So I had, yeah, they're Irish twins. That's so cool. It's not easy. It's not easy. like I'm gonna plan that I know I want twins so bad so like literally and then like I got pregnant two months postpartum and I was like are you freaking kidding me right now so I literally threw my pregnancy test in my husband's face and I was like look what you did you did he did yeah that's awesome I don't know I think it's just like it's a it's okay to be in the thick of it and acknowledge that.

31:03Like I, we are definitely in the thick of it right now. I have a six month old and 18 month old and my oldest just turned three and like, yeah, life's not easy and I don't need to pretend like it is. But I also know that there's like a light at the end of the tunnel and like every single day it's going to get just like a little bit easier. So I think it's just all about perspective. What's the gender of all your kids? My son is the oldest and then I have my middle is a girl and my last is a girl malachi mila and marley oh i love that do you does so malachi's the oldest is there like obviously he's still very young but is there pressure or like just the already understated thing for the son to follow and not only dad but his two uncles footsteps we actually don't want him to play football unless he like really wants to it's just like such a physical game and like who knows they might they might change so much about the game with football by the time he would play that it could be like so much safer but like looking at it right now I'm like please don't please do not play football your kid's gonna go out on the field with like the first ever baby guardian cap yeah yeah no he's actually like so athletically gifted it's insane he throws like perfect spirals he's so fast like I could talk about him forever he throws with Jared all the time and like just like whenever we see him and Jared's like what like this is crazy he was two when they were like throwing the ball to each other and Jared's like this guy's a quarterback I'm like okay Jared's like my kid is now gonna hang out with your kid yeah but at the same time I'm like please play tennis please golf I don't know something else I can't watch golf I'm sorry but yeah please don't I can't do golf baseball I could maybe get on board with.