Taylor Decker

Taylor Decker‘s finger injury could knock him out for the season. Lions coach Dan Campbell said his starting left tackle is still experiencing hand discomfort and might not see the field in 2021.

“There’s a chance (we could shut him down),” Campbell said (via Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press). “I mean, really we’ve only got another two-week window here on it since we started his clock so we’re going to have to figure something out within the next couple weeks on it, one way or another whether he’s on the roster, activated, ready to go or if not, we have to put him down for the rest of the season. It’ll come. I really, I don’t know where this is going to go short-term. I don’t. I really don’t right now. I mean, we’ll just have to see how he feels.”

Decker was placed on IR just before Week 1 with a hand injury. He returned to practice earlier this month, providing some optimism that he’d be back with the Lions sooner than later. However, the 21-day countdown to November 3rd continues to tick, and it sounds like Decker might not be activated by that time.

The 2016 first-round pick has been especially durable in recent years, only missing a single game over the past three seasons. The 28-year-old started all 16 games in 2020, appearing on all 1,046 of the team’s offensive snaps.

With Decker sidelined, had continued to roll with No. 7 overall pick Penei Sewell at left tackle. The rookie was expected to transition to a right tackle role with the Lions,despite having lined up on the left side at Oregon.

A mostly quiet offseason between the Lions and their cornerstone left tackle ended up still producing the endgame the parties wanted. The Lions and Taylor Decker agreed on an extension Tuesday.

The sides agreed on a four-year, $60MM pact (Twitter links). The final season is voidable, per Rapoport. More details will shake out here, but the Lions have their top tackle signed long-term.

This will not put Decker in the Laremy Tunsil neighborhood, ensuring that the Texans’ $22MM-per-year tackle remains in his own financial sector, and the per-year value is somewhat interesting. While the former first-round pick has never made a Pro Bowl, he has still given the Lions somewhat of a discount. At $15MM per year in new money, Decker’s deal comes in fifth overall at his position and behind multiple left tackle contracts agreed to more than two years ago. It does, however, come in ahead of recent pacts given to Dion Dawkins and D.J. Humphries.

Decker, 27, has started 55 games for the Lions since they took him 16th overall in 2016. The team now has two tackles signed to lucrative deals, with this agreement coming after Detroit inked Halapoulivaati Vaitai in March. Decker graded as last season’s No. 20 overall tackle, per Pro Football Focus.

Taylor Decker has one year to go on his contract, but he hasn’t gotten down to brass tacks with the Lions just yet (Twitter link via Tim Twentyman of the team website). There haven’t been any serious discussions on a new deal, though Decker says he’s gotten good feedback from the team on the whole.

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The Lions exercised Decker’s fifth-year option last year, keeping him under contract for $10.35MM for the 2020 season. Even though he says he’s willing to stay patient, he did make a representation change earlier this year, joining up with AMDG Sports, a firm dedicated exclusively to offensive linemen. The group is managed by LeCharles Bentley, who also tutors Decker at his performance center.

Decker lacked consistency in his first three seasons, but he turned a major corner last year. He allowed just seven sacks in 2019, graded out as one of Pro Football Focus’ top five tackles in the NFL, and only improved as the year wore on. For comparison, Decker graded as PFF’s No. 36 tackle in 2018.

In addition to Decker, the Lions will have to leave room for other post-2020 extensions, including wide receiver Kenny Golladay.