Taylor Decker is fighting through constant pain to remain in Lions trenches

Every gameweek is another gauntlet for Taylor Decker.

Detroit’s veteran left tackle is banged up. The same shoulder that has been bothering him since a torn labrum in 2017 OTAs has continued to cause problems to start the 2025. 

Decker had surgery on his shoulder this offseason in an attempt to be proactive and get ahead of the injury. The procedure was successful, but then a new issue flared up. More pain. More frustration.

Decker, instead of spending his weekdays practicing with his teammates, spends large chunks of it holed away with Detroit’s training staff trying to get his body ready. And sometimes all that frustration flares up.

“I can be mad, and I can be hard to work with,” Decker said. “And they’re incredible. They don’t take it personally.”

Decker constantly dealing with pain in Lions' trenches

It’s been common this year to see Decker listed as a non-participant on Detroit’s practice reports. He’s participated in three practices this year out of a possible 13. He’s still suited up in all four of Detroit’s games, but the pain he has to fight through each week just to have a chance of making it to Sunday has been constant and debilitating. 

“Decker’s been laying it on the line for us, and we know he’s not 100 percent so it’s taking everything to get him back to those games ready to compete," head coach Dan Campbell said. "So what he’s been able to do over the four weeks, it’s been impressive, and we’re fortunate that he was there for us to help us out. I think he’s been playing good football, and it’s just been about getting him back, trying to get his body back.” 

Decker has been relentless with fighting every week to get his body in shape for game days. He’s the longest tenured Lion on the team as a former Bob Quinn first round pick from 2016, and in many ways its heart and soul. He’s been a warrior on Sundays for Detroit, but managing the pain throughout the week has been difficult. He knows there’s more his body won’t allow him to do.

“I think I’m playing well, but the frustrating thing for me is I think I could play better if I felt better," Decker said. "Yeah, the performances have been pretty good, but the frustrating thing is I have my own personal standards, and when you’re not at 100 percent it’s hard to meet those. But that’s why you still go out there and do your best for the team. I feel like if I’m out there, I give us a chance to win.” 

Chronic, debilitating pain is the same thing that ended the career of Decker’s fellow Lions offensive lineman and close friend Frank Ragnow. The All-Pro center retired this offseason at 29 after a foot injury that had dogged him for years. 

It was a surprise to the national media, but not to Lions teammates. And especially not to Decker, who admitted to considering his own football future after Ragnow stepped away.

Though he decided to press on, Decker has remained in contact with Ragnow this year as he works through the constant physical pain. There aren’t many people who know what it's like to power through all the physical pain and mental toll - all so you can line up against Myles Garrett on Sunday. 

“I was just kind of venting to him about my situation, because I know he’s been in the shoes and he’s been in them more than I have,” Decker said to Detroit Football Network’s Justin Rogers. “...He’s in good spirits. He was funny. He was like, ‘It’s crazy how much better my body feels and that I don’t have to squat 500 pounds now.’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, surprise.’”

Decker has held down the left side of Detroit’s offensive line for a decade now and anchored some of the best units in the NFL. He has battled through excruciating pain and overcome more than anyone outside of the Lions’ facility could probably ever realize. He plays an unforgiving sport that breaks you down in every way. 

It’s fair to question, sometimes, whether or not it’s all even worth it. But maybe that’s the key to understanding a Decker, or a Ragnow. They were both in Detroit during the Matt Patricia era. They know, as well as any football player, what it’s like to pour everything you have into the game and feel like it’s going nowhere. 

That’s not what’s happening in Detroit anymore. This team has dreams of a Super Bowl. It feels real to them. And that pursuit is what makes all of this worth it.

“I just don’t want to leave the game and then always be wondering or thinking what could’ve been,” Decker said.

The daily frustration and weekly absences in practice may well be Decker's injury situation for the whole year, or at least most of it. But sticking it out has sort of become his thing. And while his future after this season is anyone's guess, his present is focused squarely on making it to this Sunday.

And the next one. And the one after that. And so on.