The Detroit Lions have a handful of very difficult decisions to make this offseason.
Among them will be to decide which veterans to part ways with, in order to save on the salary cap.
In a recent ESPN article, the bold decision general manager Brad Holmes makes is to cut veteran offensive lineman Taylor Decker.
As Aaron Schatz explained, “The Lions will cut left tackle Taylor Decker if he does not retire. He will be 33 years old next season and has had issues with shoulder injuries. In 2025, he fell to 45th out of 69 ranked tackles in pass block win rate, and he ranked 61st in run block win rate.”
With Decker openly contemplating retirement with the wear and tear on his body, Dan Campbell revealed that is something he and Holmes are monitoring and have learned from.
In fact, Decker has spoken to Holmes and Campbell, but the team sees the decision-making process taking a longer time than an abrupt decision.
“We have to obviously take note of that, and Decker is going to come talk to Brad (Holmes) and myself, today or tomorrow,” Campbell said. “And again, I know this, whatever goes down there, he (Decker), from his perspective, he is going to need some time. When you have played as long as he has, when you’ve had the career he’s had, you’re gonna need a little bit. Absolutely, we learn lessons, we learned lessons there (from Frank Ragnow’s situation during last spring).”
What is next for Detroit?
Campbell is already itching to get back to the drawing board and begin organized team activities and training camp. Campbell is open to quite a few changes, but the culture and process that Detroit has will not be changing for 2026.
This season left a bitter taste in Campbell’s mouth, as revealed by his self-assessment of an F on the grading scale. And the head coach is not making excuses with the injury bug, either. He is putting the blame on himself, and the players are acknowledging their own blame, too.
However, there is hope on the horizon for Detroit, and Campbell is pointing towards that. There will be more competition and hunger in the organization for this extended offseason. He thinks Detroit will have their own hunger back for the 2026 season.
“For sure, for sure (we still believe in the process), we aren’t going to back down on that,” Campbell emphasized. “We believe in what we do, it’s gotten us to where we’ve gotten to at this point, now. We feel like we fell short this year, and, look, we all acknowledge that, I acknowledge that. It’s bitter, you know? It’s a bitter taste. It feels good to win yesterday, but ultimately, it’s frustrating, you know? We got nobody to blame but ourselves. But I really don’t believe that we are that far off.
“There’s a couple things that we can do, and you know, I just want to make sure that we go after it. I’m not saying we weren’t hungry, but let’s get that hunger back. We’re gonna bring in some guys, that’s the thing. We need competition in a lot of areas, man,” Campbell added. “That brings out the best in players, whether that is with some of the guys that were here, or guys that you bring in. That is how you elevate the roster.”
