Taylor Decker’s name is still floating around the NFL free-agent conversation, but the Lions don’t have much reason to worry about him landing in a place that would sting them.
The former Detroit left tackle is available after asking for and receiving his release when contract talks did not go the way he wanted. At the time, he had already made it clear he had thought about retirement before last season ended, and he also said his surgically repaired shoulder might never be 100 percent again. That combination has kept him on the board as one of the more notable veterans still out there with training camps approaching.
Kristopher Knox of Bleacher Report recently included Decker among the best remaining free agents and listed two possible destinations for him: the Chicago Bears and the Los Angeles Rams. The Rams have been the more frequently discussed option lately, while the Bears have been tied to Decker because of his six seasons of overlap with head coach Ben Johnson in Detroit and their need at left tackle.
But that Bears connection has never really made much sense, and it sounds even thinner now. Weeks after Decker was released, he told Justin Rogers of Detroit Football Network that Johnson had reached out to him. At that point, current Lions coaches had not done the same.
Rogers didn’t put a direct quote on the record about Decker’s feelings toward Chicago and Green Bay, but he did relay the gist of it:
"I will tell you that [Decker's] pretty anti-playing for the Bears and Packers. That’s the Lions background.
I know Ben Johnson did it and that was the right situation for him, but Taylor feels kinda dirty about the idea. It just isn’t interesting to him.”
The Bears’ own left tackle picture also makes the fit even less likely. They believed they had a long-term answer when Ozzy Trapilo flashed as a rookie last year, but a torn patellar tendon in the playoff win over the Green Bay Packers changed that. For now, Braxton Jones is the favorite to start at left tackle, with Theo Benedet and Jedrick Wills Jr. also in the mix.
So unless Chicago runs into a truly wild stretch of injuries, it’s hard to see them needing Decker at all. And it’s even harder to see them turning to a player who had already ruled out the idea months ago.
That’s really the story here: Decker appears to have asked for his release without a clear sense of what the market would look like once he hit it. That puts him in a tricky spot now, even if his name still belongs on any list of the top available free agents. It also explains why the Bears, despite the early buzz, no longer look like a realistic destination.
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