Taylor Decker’s path to a 2026 return has gotten awfully narrow, and the most obvious landing spot might be the one he doesn’t want.
When Decker said he would keep playing for an 11th NFL season, after publicly considering retirement, it seemed obvious the Detroit Lions would still be his team. Instead, he asked for and received his release rather than accept a pay cut.
That move opened the door to a market that should have existed for one of the league’s more underrated left tackles over the last several years. But with final preseason roster cuts around the league closing in, Decker is still unemployed.
Two possible destinations looked especially plausible at one point: the Washington Commanders and the Los Angeles Rams. Neither has materialized.
Washington appears set on internal answers to replace Laremy Tunsil, while the Rams’ situation around Alaric Jackson has been tied up in uncertainty. Jackson has seemed to be headed for a suspension after another off-field incident this offseason, but that discipline has not come down yet, if it happens at all.
After the Lions let him go, Decker spoke at length with Justin Rogers of Detroit Football Network and described “radio silence” from the team. He also noted that Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson, the former Lions offensive coordinator, reached out to him after the release.
Rogers later said on the “Lions Collective” podcast that Decker’s stance on certain NFC North teams was pretty firm.
"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."
Whether that feeling has shifted since late March is an open question. So is how badly Decker even wants to keep playing. Rogers addressed that at the time, too.
"I could see him joining a team midstream...and injury happens somehere...like that right offer emerges", Rogers said. "I also could see him not playing."
For now, the Bears are the clearest team with a lingering left tackle question. In their second preseason game, default Week 1 favorite Braxton Jones did not seize the job, struggling against Cincinnati Bengals reserves and drawing a penalty. The other contenders, beyond Theo Benedet, didn’t separate themselves either.
Decker has likely stayed in football shape while waiting, and he wouldn’t need a full camp or preseason ramp-up anyway. Still, if he wants to play this season, the options may have dwindled to one shaky possibility unless an injury opens another door somewhere.
Even then, the Bears may be the one team that makes sense - and the one team he may not want. The bigger issue is whether Chicago would even call, especially with Johnson in place, or whether Decker will stick to the stance he has already laid out about not wanting to play for Lions division rivals.
That public, and perhaps private, “anti-NFC North” position could still shape his August job search. Or maybe that was always the point: rule out the cleanest fit, shrink the field, and make retirement the likeliest outcome.
If the Bears and Johnson don’t come calling soon - or if Decker doesn’t budge on that stance - he may be better off walking away. And if that was where he was leaning all along, maybe that call should have come back in March.
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