Veteran offensive tackle Taylor Decker is still without a team following his release from the Detroit Lions, and he does not seem interested in joining the Green Bay Packers — or any of the other Lions rivals in the NFC North Division amid the NFL free agency.
That was a takeaway Justin Rogers of DetroitFootball.net had after he interviewed Decker.
“He wants to play for a winner. Yet he’s kind of thinking about, ‘Is it cheap to go win somewhere else after you’ve invested all your energy emotionally and physically into one franchise?’” Rogers said during an appearance on the Lions Collective podcast (h/t Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk).
“I will tell you that he’s pretty anti-playing for the Bears or Packers. That’s the Lions background in him. I know Ben Johnson did it and that was the right situation for him, but Taylor feels kind of dirty about the idea. It just isn’t interesting to him. I could see him joining a team mid-season, the further he gets away from football and games being played, injuries happening and the right offer occurs. I could also see him not playing.”
The 32-year-old Decker was released by the Lions in March, clearing Detroit of $11.6 cap space. He was asked by Detroit to take a pay cut, and while that request did not sit well with him, leading to his departure from the Lions, he still feels that he’s a Lion for life.
“Taylor Decker wants to be remembered as a Lion, to the point where he wants back in the fold,” Rogers added. “Wherever this season may go, whether he plays for someone else or doesn’t, he wants to come here, sign the one-day contract, retire a Lion.”
No plans for free agent veteran OL to join the Packers
Decker has spent his entire NFL career so far with the Lions, so he’s seen plenty of action against the Packers, Chicago Bears and the Minnesota Vikings. The fierce rivalry in the division appears to have made quite an impact on him, as he’s expressed disinterest in signing with any of those teams.
Decker, an Ohio State Buckeyes product and a 2024 Pro Bowler, was taken by Detroit 16th overall in the first round of the 2016 NFL Draft.
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