By Moses Joshua 
After a decade of service, Detroit may be staring at the quiet departure of one of the faces of its rebuild.
The Cracks Beneath a 9–8 Finish
The Detroit Lions didn’t collapse in spectacular fashion in 2025 — but they faded just enough to miss the playoffs. And now, as Dan Campbell and Brad Holmes look toward reshaping the roster, the task is complicated by something far more sobering than a bad Sunday.
Age is finally catching up with the foundation.
The offensive line, once the pride of the franchise, has already lost pillars. Kevin Zeitler walked in free agency. Frank Ragnow called it a career. And now, left tackle Taylor Decker — the team’s $60 million stalwart — is starting to sound like a man nearing the end of the road.
Detroit paid Decker to be elite. What they may be getting now is closure.
A Blindside Built on Loyalty
Decker has been there through it all. Ten seasons. One hundred and forty starts. Multiple coaching staffs. Multiple rebuilds. He survived the chaos before Campbell arrived and became a central figure in the Lions’ revival.
But this season told a quieter story.
He slipped from the upper tier of NFL tackles, ranking just 40th out of 85 qualified players at the position. For most linemen, that’s still respectable. For a franchise left tackle who protects a quarterback as immobile as Jared Goff, it’s a warning sign.
Detroit’s offense has been constructed around trust — trust that the blindside is secure, that the pocket will hold, that mistakes won’t become catastrophes. Decker and Penei Sewell were the bookends of that belief.
Now one of them may be preparing to close the book.
A Locker Room on the Verge of Change
This isn’t just about one player. It’s about timing.
The Lions are entering an offseason where they must begin locking up younger stars. Money will be tight. Hard decisions are coming. And the roster no longer has the luxury of carrying contracts based on legacy.
With Jahmyr Gibbs taking on a larger share of the backfield, even the beloved “Sonic and Knuckles” dynamic with David Montgomery feels like it may be reaching its natural end. Every corner of the lineup is being re-evaluated.
And when Decker speaks, there’s a tone that feels less like frustration… and more like finality.
What Detroit Stands to Lose
Taylor Decker will never be mistaken for a Hall of Famer. But Detroit didn’t need him to be immortal — they needed him to be dependable.
And he was.
Ten years of stability. Ten years of leadership. Ten years of being one of the rare pre-Campbell Lions who lived long enough to see the turnaround.
If his final snap really has already been played, his departure won’t come with fireworks or headlines. It will come with something far heavier.
Silence.
The kind that only settles in when a franchise realizes that one of the pillars holding it upright has quietly stepped away.