Lions left tackle Taylor Decker headed into the offseason considering retirement, but he will return in 2026. In an Instagram post on Tuesday, Decker announced that he will stick around for an 11th season.
Now the Lions’ longest-tenured player, Decker joined the franchise as the 16th overall pick in the 2016 draft. The former Ohio State Buckeye immediately became a full-time player in Detroit.
Decker has started in all 140 career appearances, including 14 last season, but a series of injuries have taken their toll on the 2024 Pro Bowler. Decker has missed at least two games in each season since 2022, his fourth and most recent full campaign, and has undergone five major surgeries as a pro.
Decker most recently went under the knife last offseason to address nagging shoulder issues. Although Decker opened training camp on the active/PUP list, he made it back in time for the Lions’ season opener. The 6-foot-7, 324-pounder continued battling shoulder trouble throughout the season, leading to three absences. The pain was severe enough that Decker required eight steroid injections to alleviate it.
Despite his latest injury-related adversity, Decker is in line to play the second season of the three-year, $60MM extension he signed in July 2024. The soon-to-be 33-year-old Decker and stalwart right tackle Penei Sewell will team up as the Lions’ bookends for at least another season. However, there is less certainty elsewhere on the line.
Graham Glasgow, the Lions’ starting center in 2025, may hang up his cleats after struggling to replace early retiree Frank Ragnow. Meanwhile, injuries have dogged left guard Christian Mahogany since his time at Boston College. The 2024 sixth-rounder has only played 18 games in two years, though he started in all 11 appearances last season.
Tate Ratledge was a bright spot as a second-round rookie last year, but it is unclear if he’ll stay at right guard or move to center in 2026. When he met with the media on Tuesday, Lions general manager Brad Holmes called Ratledge a “real option” to handle center. At the same time, though, he hinted at adding a veteran this offseason, per Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press.
“It’s a very important position,” Holmes said. “You’ve got to handle a lot of information. There’s some rookies that have been able to handle it. But you’ve just got to find the right one, whether it’s Day 1, Day 2, or Day 3. If you find the right one, he can. But really the kind of obvious way to (to plug that spot) is (to get) a player who has already done it.”
Baltimore’s Tyler Linderbaum will easily be the prized center on this year’s free agent market, but that’s only if he makes it there. The Ravens have already made Linderbaum a “market-setting” offer to stay, GM Eric DeCosta announced. The Bills’ Connor McGovern and the Panthers’ Cade Mays are not on Linderbaum’s level, but those two pending free agents won’t be cheap either. The Packers’ Sean Rhyan and the Saints’ Luke Fortner may represent a couple of less expensive possibilities for the Lions.
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