Lions Top 10 Injury News of 2025: #5 Taylor Decker Shoulder

It was a season of pain for the Lions' left tackle

A prolonged and unremitting shoulder injury to one of the most important and longest-tenured Lions earns the #5 spot on the Top 10 Injury News of 2025. Taylor Decker’s valiantly battled, but his shoulder injury affected him all season… and beyond.

The Injury - Right shoulder

The timeline of Decker’s injury is suspected to have started in the 2024 season.

October 27, 2024: In this Week 8 game, Decker suffers a right pec strain which he played through.

November 10, 2024: In practice, Decker sustains a right rotator cuff injury causing him to miss the next game.

~July 2025: Shoulder surgery including AC joint decompression and clavicle incision with bone spur removal.

July 2025: The Lions place Decker on PUP list to start training camp.

September 14, 2025: In Week 2, starts wearing a right elbow brace for a suspected bicep issue…

October 5, 2025: Misses Week 5 and 6 due to the shoulder.

October 20, 2025: In Week 7, shows visible discomfort with the shoulder…

2025 Season Summary

To his credit, Decker only missed two games all season for the shoulder (and another game for an illness). However, his practice time throughout the season was severely limited.

After the season, Decker spoke about the many treatments he used to try to get through the season including:

• corticosteroid injections

• PRP injections

• gel injections

• red light therapy

• acupuncture

• hyperbaric O2

• stim machine

2026 Offseason Drama

After the season, all signs were pointing towards a Taylor Decker retirement. That is until Decker exuberantly announced he was going to return for 2026.

February 24, 2026:

The fact that he felt good enough in February to commit to the season seemed to be an excellent sign for his shoulder health.

However, given what transpired in the past year, the Lions understandably still had major concerns. The team is suspected to have requested a contract adjustment that was more commensurate with his reliability, as well as to free up cap space to possibly add another offensive tackle.

March 6, 2026: Decker requests his release…

March 9, 2026: The Lions release Taylor Decker.

April 23, 2026: Lions select OT Blake Miller in the 1st round of the NFL Draft.

Miller brings youth and reliability to the position. Hopefully, his career can be as long and as productive as Taylor Decker’s.

2026 Outlook

Decker remains an unsigned free agent. There are likely still significant concerns among NFL teams regarding his shoulder health - along with the accumulation of other injuries including a toe sesamoidectomy and ankle deltoid ligament repair.

It’s uncertain whether Decker is still interested in playing football, and if any team would be willing to accept the health risk and contract demands. If this is it, Decker will have spent his entire 10-year NFL career with the Lions and go down as one of the all-time Lions’ legends.

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At #6 was another shoulder injury for the Lions…