Taylor Decker will be returning to the Detroit Lions in 2026
He’s baaaacckkkk
Well, that happened pretty fast. On tuesday Detroit Lions general manager Brad Holmes said the Lions were hoping to get an answer from Taylor Decker on whether or not he would retire before the new league year on March 11th. Decker has made his decision.
Taylor Decker will be returning to the Lions in 2026
Ok, so now what happens? The hope is that Decker can come back and get healthy. There might be some concern out there that the Lions might forgo their search for a tackle this offseason, and that is not going to be the case. Lions head coach Dan Campbell said on Tuesday that even if Decker is back, they need to get a tackle. He also didn’t necessarily guarantee Decker a starting job.
“Look, if it’s not, then we got to find the guy, right? But if it is, we still got to find the guy. Because as much as I love Deck, you know, he’s got some things that are going to need some management. And that’s kind of where we’re at, you know. And so we’re one way or another, we’re going to need somebody that can play over there, you know, and they can help us if we need them in a crunch or we need them as a starter.”
That’s a big deal. If Decker comes back, he’s going to have to compete with someone for that job. That’s what it looks like for sure. That someone could be the 17th pick in the draft.
What looks good for the Lions is if Decker is back and healthy and he is the guy you’ve been used to seeing, the Lions just solved one of their biggest off-season issues. He can come in and start in 2026, and you have a chance to develop a rookie and get him in place to take over.
That could also change the Lions’ draft plans a little. Maybe they now feel a little more comfortable with waiting till the second round to find that tackle, and they’ll go edge or another position in the first round.
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