The Lions might have to begin the 2017 campaign without left tackle Taylor Decker, head coach Jim Caldwell told Kyle Meinke of MLive.com and other media on Tuesday. Decker underwent shoulder surgery Monday as a result of an injury he suffered during organized team activities, and he’ll be out until at least training camp and potentially into the regular season.
“Anytime that you’ve had surgery, you just don’t know details (about) how long it actually takes,” Caldwell stated. “Like I said, we’ll update you in the fall.”
Decker, whom the Lions chose 16th overall in last year’s draft, emerged as a 16-game starter during his rookie season. The former Ohio State stalwart carried his strong play with the Buckeyes to Detroit, ranking 23rd in performance among Pro Football Focus’ 78 qualified tackles. More impressively, perhaps, Decker joined quarterback Matthew Stafford as the Lions’ only players to participate in all 1,037 of their offensive snaps.
When he’s ready to return, the 23-year-old Decker will rejoin a remade offensive line that, earlier this offseason, lost guard Larry Warford and tackle Riley Reiff and replaced them with big-money signings T.J. Lang and Ricky Wagner. Those two will make up the right side of the Lions’ O-line when Decker’s healthy. But Wagner could shift to the left with Decker out, per Caldwell, or the team could use another in-house option in Cornelius Lucas or Joe Dahl. Caldwell also didn’t rule out the possibility of adding a tackle from outside the organization. That could put free agents such as Ryan Clady, Austin Pasztor and King Dunlap, among others, in play for the Decker-less Lions.