If you thought Detroit Lions left tackle Taylor Decker was battling through injuries this year, buddy, you don’t know the half of it.
After the Lions’ final game of the 2025 season—a gritty, last-second win over the Chicago Bears—Decker was going through a lot of emotions in the locker room. Clearly, he was thinking about the possibility of this being the last game of his 10-year career—all spent with the Lions. While he continues to maintain that he’s not in the right emotional space to make a big decision like that, he also painstakingly went through every detail of how much of a physical struggle this 2025 season was.
Decker had offseason surgery on his shoulder, hoping to enter the season healthy and strong. But almost immediately, the shoulder was bothering him again. It forced him to miss a few games early, but it was something that never went away, despite Decker devoting most of every game week to rehab in order to feel just good enough to play.
“I’m in treatment before meetings every day,” Decker explained. “A lot of times during practice (too), because I couldn’t get to the point where I was able to practice a lot. In there with Austin (White), our PT (physical therapist), to be able to try and just do some things that add strength and things like that.
“Probably had six or seven different types—not different types—but different injections. Steroid injections, PRP injections, gel injections, all sorts of things like that. I’d see an acupuncturist a couple times a week. I’d try to spend four to five hours a week in the hyperbaric chamber. I tried to do a red-light bed every day for 20 to 30 minutes. And then I would be doing stuff at home with a direct stim machine at night after I got home and put my kids to sleep. I’m probably up doing stuff once my kids were asleep until about 9:30, and then I gotta go to bed and wake up at 6 to just do it all over again.
“But it was what was necessary, and it was what I was willing to do.“
Decker’s thoughts then immediately turned to his family, with thoughts of retirement creeping in.
“It asked a lot of my wife,” Decker said before taking a long pause, tearing up. “And it was selfish of me, but it was what was required to fulfill the expectations of my job. That’s not something that I’m—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. I’m not willing to be distant and not be a present father, because your kids are only little once, and, God willing, we have more. I want to be able to play with them. I want to be able to throw the ball with them. I mean, I can’t throw a football right now. No way.
“But could I (play in 2026), given the right set of circumstances? Maybe. But I need to go through that process,” Decker said.
Don’t expect a decision from Decker right away, as he’ll take some time to get away from the emotions of the moment, likely consult medical professionals about the path forward, and then make an informed decision—whenever that may be.
You can see some of Decker’s emotional moments in the locker room below:
And here is the most Taylor Decker quote I’ve ever seen:
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