BYU’s Brady Christensen Putting Together Season That Compares To Penei Sewell

PROVO, Utah – BYU junior Brady Christensen might be the most underappreciated player in college football. The star left tackle for the Cougars is putting together a 2020 season that rivals one of college football’s best offensive lineman ever.

Christensen is closing in on the best Pro Football Focus grade ever set by Oregon’s Penei Sewell in 2019.

BYU responds in large part to the efforts of LT Brady Christensen.

PFF’s top rated OT helps seal the running lane with a big push. Christensen was excellent last year and has only improved on this loaded BYU OLpic.twitter.com/qvfuifg41S

— Boom or Bust: The Draft Show (@BoomOrBustDraft) December 5, 2020

Sewell, a former Desert Hills star in St. George, set the PFF record in 2019 with a 95.8 grade. Christensen is on pace to beat Sewell’s record-setting mark with a 97.0 grade this season.

BYU OT Brady Christensen: 197 straight snaps without allowing a QB pressure on 3rd/4th down pic.twitter.com/YNBmhv98QC

— PFF College (@PFF_College) December 4, 2020

How Pro Football Focus determines their grades is based on “contribution to production” on a given play.

Here’s how PFF describes its grading scale.

Each player is given a grade of -2 to +2 in 0.5 increments on a given play with 0 generally being the average or “expected” grade. There are a few exceptions as each position group has different rules, but those are the basics. The zero grade is important as most plays feature many players doing their job at a reasonable, or expected, level, so not every player on every play needs to earn a positive or a negative.

Brady Christensen by advanced metrics is performing better than Penei Sewell

Christensen ranking above Penei Sewell is notable because Sewell is viewed as a top-five pick in the 2021 NFL Draft. Sewell opted out of this season with the Ducks to prepare for the Draft. Christensen has a decision ahead of him on whether he will forego his senior year to declare for the 2021 NFL Draft after the season.

#BYU OT Brady Christensen when asked if this Saturday will be his last home game as a Cougar.

"I can't say that for sure right now. I'm not sure exactly what my future holds. Right now, just focusing on San Diego State."#BYUFootball #GoCougs pic.twitter.com/J9WIO0OYFY

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) December 7, 2020

Last season, Sewell’s play garnered a little bit of Heisman buzz from college football’s national media. Sewell was a unanimous first-team All-American and recipient of the Outland Trophy. Christensen wasn’t named a semifinalist for the Outland despite his dominance in 2020 in both passing and run blocking.

It might be time for national pundits to start recognizing the talent of Christensen, who’s putting together a record-setting season as the foundation of BYU’s high-powered offense.

Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (Saturday from 12–3 p.m., KSL Newsradio). Follow him on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper and the KSL Sports app.