The Detroit Lions will not have the services of left tackle Taylor Decker for the Week 5 game against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Decker, who had offseason shoulder surgery, has been on the injury report with the issue since Week 2 and has practiced sparingly this season but has yet to miss a contest.
That is going to change in Week 5, though, as the Lions have downgraded Decker to doubtful, which means he is highly unlikely to suit up on Sunday.
We'll get an exact confirmation on Decker's status an hour and a half before the 4:25 p.m. ET kickoff, when inactives are released.
Assuming nothing changes and Decker sits out, the team is likely to deploy second-year offensive tackle Giovanni Manu in his stead.
The 2024 fourth-round pick has very little NFL experience, as he's only seen seven offensive snaps during his career, all of which came this season.
However, Manu has yet to play a pass-blocking snap in the NFL and has registered a run-blocking grade of 60.1. He is a total wild card and there's no telling what the Lions will get out of him in Week 5.
Decker touched on his shoulder issue recently and suggested that it could be a problem for him the entire season.
“I think it’s something that I’m going to have to deal with a lot for a good portion of the year, but we have a plan in place right now,” Decker admitted, per Jeremy Reisman of Pride of Detroit.
“We do have a plan in place of what we’re going to do moving forward to try and mitigate having to deal with it. Because I don’t think—whatever the plan has to be, that’s fine. But I don’t want to not have to practice and not be able to do all the lifts I need to do the entire season,” he added.
Decker also admitted that he contemplated retirement when the injury first happened, according to Justin Rogers of the Detroit Football Network.
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