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Every gameweek is another gauntlet for Taylor Decker.<\/p>\n
Detroit\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Decker, instead of spending his weekdays practicing with his teammates, spends large chunks of it holed away with Detroit\u2019s training staff trying to get his body ready. And sometimes all that frustration flares up.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can be mad, and I can be hard to work with,\u201d Decker said. \u201cAnd they\u2019re incredible. They don\u2019t take it personally.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been common this year to see Decker listed as a non-participant on Detroit\u2019s practice reports. He\u2019s participated in three practices this year out of a possible 13. He\u2019s still suited up in all four of Detroit\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cDecker\u2019s been laying it on the line for us, and we know he\u2019s not 100 percent so it\u2019s taking everything to get him back to those games ready to compete,” head coach Dan Campbell said. “So what he\u2019s been able to do over the four weeks, it\u2019s been impressive, and we\u2019re fortunate that he was there for us to help us out. I think he\u2019s been playing good football, and it\u2019s just been about getting him back, trying to get his body back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Decker has been relentless with fighting every week to get his body in shape for game days. He\u2019s 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\u2019s been a warrior on Sundays for Detroit, but managing the pain throughout the week has been difficult. He knows there\u2019s more his body won\u2019t allow him to do.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I\u2019m 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\u2019re not at 100 percent it\u2019s hard to meet those. But that\u2019s why you still go out there and do your best for the team. I feel like if I\u2019m out there, I give us a chance to win.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chronic, debilitating pain is the same thing that ended the career of Decker\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was just kind of venting to him about my situation, because I know he\u2019s been in the shoes and he\u2019s been in them more than I have,\u201d Decker said to Detroit Football Network\u2019s Justin Rogers. \u201c…He\u2019s in good spirits. He was funny. He was like, \u2018It\u2019s crazy how much better my body feels and that I don\u2019t have to squat 500 pounds now.\u2019 And I\u2019m like, \u2018Yeah, surprise.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Decker has held down the left side of Detroit\u2019s 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\u2019 facility could probably ever realize. He plays an unforgiving sport that breaks you down in every way.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s fair to question, sometimes, whether or not it\u2019s all even worth it. But maybe that\u2019s 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\u2019s like to pour everything you have into the game and feel like it\u2019s going nowhere.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s not what\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just don\u2019t want to leave the game and then always be wondering or thinking what could\u2019ve been,\u201d Decker said.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
And the next one. And the one after that. And so on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Detroit\u2019s left tackle is gutting his way through a \u201cfrustrating\u201d shoulder injury.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34597,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-detroit-lions"],"yoast_head":"\n