Lions tackle Taylor Decker requests release from team

DETROIT — Less than two weeks after announcing his intentions to return to the Detroit Lions for an 11th season, offensive tackle Taylor Decker announced on his Instagram on Friday that he has requested his release from the one and only franchise he's ever played for.

While Decker, the Lions' longest-tenured player, didn't fully divulge the details of his conversations with the Lions in his post, he referred to a lack of common ground between the two parties. A league source told The Detroit News that the team asked him to take a pay cut.

Decker's release would generate $11.6 million in cap savings and $9.4 million in dead cap for 2026. The team has not yet announced such a move.

"Things change, 145 games started, 3 playoff appearances, 2 division titles and a decade carrying the shield. I fully intended to do it once again, but my time as a Lion is coming to an end," Decker wrote. "In the weeks since notifying the team of my return there have been numerous discussions. Many of which were a surprise to me, and we could not find common ground. Therefore I decided to request my release.

"I am opting for a clean and amicable close to what has been such a beautiful 10 years going to war as a Lion," Decker continued.

"It has been the absolute privilege of my life to be your LT for the past 10 years. And I am forever grateful for the opportunity the Ford family and Lions organization afforded me."

The move comes as a complete and total surprise, given Decker is still a serviceable player and likely will be remembered as a franchise legend, plus the Lions' offensive line struggles a season ago. Reading between the lines, however, it appears the Lions might have been wary about paying a cap hit of $21 million to a player with serious injury concerns.

"If it’s not (Decker returning), then we’ve got to find a guy. But if it is, we’ve still going to find a guy. Because as much as I love Deck, he’s got some things that are going to need some management. That’s kind of where we’re at," head coach Dan Campbell said. "One way or another, we’re going to need somebody that can play over there and that can help us if we need them in a crunch or we need them as a starter. That’s important."

Following the conclusion of last season, Decker was open about considering retirement.

Decker, a first-round pick (No. 16) out of Ohio State in 2016, was candid about his time in the league potentially coming to an end after a 19-16 season-ending win against the Chicago Bears on Jan. 4, when he detailed a painful existence that hampered his life off the field. Nearly all of his time outside of the facility was spent preparing his body to play on Sunday, something he said was unfair to continue asking of his wife and children.

“It was selfish of me,” he said through a shaky voice in the bowels of Soldier Field, “but it was what was required to fulfill the expectations of my job. So if that’s what my future is going to be to continue to play, that’s not something I’m willing to do, because I’m not willing to put my family through it.”

Like many other players, he’s had more bumps and bruises than he can possibly count, and over the last few seasons, the major injuries have begun to compound on one another.

During the 2025 offseason, he had surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff that he played through in 2024. The shoulder continued to bother him throughout the year, forcing him to miss the majority of training camp. His final number of regular-season practices could be counted on one hand. And yet, he still managed to play 14 of 17 games for a unit that desperately needed his presence.

Decker’s potential exit also means another reminder of where the Lions have come from is gone. While there might not be an inherent tangible value in rostering players who were here before Campbell, it seemed there was something beneficial about players having experienced the lows of Lions football before this regime took office.

When the Lions snapped their 30-year drought without a division title on Christmas Eve in 2023, Campbell called the “old guard” up to the middle of the room, players like Decker, the since-retired center Frank Ragnow, and offensive lineman Graham Glasgow, who was released by the team earlier this week, and others on the team during the Matt Patricia era, to recognize the groundwork they laid to help change the culture.

“I can tell you this, when you’re part of an organization, and it’s been thirty years since we won a f---ing championship, it’s special, man, and these guys have been dying for it and waiting for it, this is for you, baby,” Campbell said. “This first one’s for you.”

Throughout the Lions’ peaks and valleys, Decker was always one of the first players the media ran to for a quote after a game. You’d be hard-pressed to remember a time when he let the emotions — good or bad — take away from his thoughtfulness and candor. He was a player who effortlessly offered context on any situation and wore those emotions on his sleeve.

Few deserved to partake in the Lions’ turnaround more than Decker, who so often spoke about the mental anguish of playing for some truly awful teams.

“I’ve been here a lot when we’ve been s--- on. We’re kind of the butt of the joke. I don’t want that,” Decker said a few years back. “That’s not fun to be a part of.”

Decker’s patience with the organization was rewarded when the Lions won the NFC North in consecutive years and won two playoff games during the 2023 postseason, doubling the franchise’s total in the previous 6 1/2 decades over an eight-day span. He might not have won a Super Bowl, but if and when the Lions do finally cross the finish line, it will be in no small part because of players like him, who bought into changing the culture when Campbell arrived in 2021.

Decker re-signed with the Lions during the 2024 offseason, hoping he'd start and finish his career as a Lion.

"It's not lost on me the fact that a lot of guys don't get to spend their whole career with one team. Hopefully, that's in the cards for me. And from the contract extension, that seems like it's in the cards," Decker said.

"I'm very fortunate, and I've gotten to have some good luck along the way, but there was also a lot that went into it. … It just feels special to be able to stay here and be with my friends and get to work with people that I care about and that I love. It's just really special, and I'm fortunate, and I'm glad that the Lions continue to see the value that I can add to this team moving forward because I'm excited to just see it through."

There was plenty of fun along the way, such as when he caught his first touchdown from former quarterback Matthew Stafford in a 30-16 loss to Jared Goff's Los Angeles Rams in 2018. He caught his second touchdown in a 2021 loss to the Seattle Seahawks.

And his hands were at the center of controversy during a game against the Dallas Cowboys on Dec. 30, 2023, as officials were confused about whether he or tackle Dan Skipper reported as an eligible before a go-ahead 2-point conversion in the final minute, nullifying the catch by Decker that put Detroit on top. Decker's status quickly evolved into that of a hero, as billboards began popping up all over Metro Detroit that read, "DECKER REPORTED".

Of course, there’s more than sentiment that’s being lost with Decker’s exit. He was also a reliable left tackle until the very end despite the injuries, leaving a huge hole on the left side of the Lions’ offensive line — inarguably its most troublesome unit during the 2025 season — and players like him are not easy to find.

The Lions will face no shortage of difficulties finding their next stalwart tackle. But a good place to start could be the No. 17 pick, one selection later than what Detroit used to draft Decker in 2016.