Gio Manu allowed 2 sacks in his first career start Sunday against the Bengals in place of the injured Taylor Decker. Next up for Lions is Chiefs.
CINCINNATI — The Detroit Lions made a last-minute decision to hold Taylor Decker out of Sunday's 37-24 win over the Cincinnati Bengals in hopes that rest now will pay big dividends for the veteran left tackle's ailing shoulder later.
"The recovery has not – it’s been less and less," Lions coach Dan Campbell explained after the game. "He has not been able to quite catch up to – we feel like there’s diminishing returns every week. ... We need to give this guy a little time."
Decker has practiced sparingly all season but played the first four games of the season for a Lions team that has won four straight and is tied for the best record in the NFC.
Decker underwent surgery on his shoulder this offseason and opened training camp on the physically unable to perform list. He said last week he's dealing with a different injury to the same shoulder, and that everything that was repaired with surgery "is fixed."
The Lions (4-1) initially listed Decker as questionable for Sunday's game, but downgraded him to doubtful Sunday morning and made him inactive for the game.
"I don’t know how long (he'll be out), but this is so we get him back," Campbell said. "That’s what this is. Man, let’s get this thing called down, let’s get some strength back in the shoulder to where he feels good. And so all of this is for a positive. We just felt like, man, coming down the wire, yesterday, today, man, we need to back of off this and let’s be smart with it. So in that regard I feel good."
Gio Manu, a fourth-round pick in 2024 who had seven career offensive snaps entering Sunday, made his first career start in Decker's place and had an up-and-down game against the Bengals.
Manu allowed two sacks, including one that led to a Jared Goff fumble, and gave up a handful of other pressures. But Campbell said he also "did some good things in the run game" and on play-action passes.
"There were some that, man, that weren’t good and he’ll learn from," Campbell said. "He’s got to learn from them and that’s what you look forward to. You don’t want to have a couple of plays where your quarterback gets hit but at the same token, that’s probably the best way to learn, too, cause you don’t want that to happen again and then it’s like, 'Man, what do I need to hone up? What can I do better? How do I handle this?' Look, that’s his first real taste of real football. NFL, true, not preseason, it’s real so you just, you grow from it. It’s good experience."
Campbell said he's not sure if Decker will be available for the Lions' Week 6 showdown with the Kansas City Chiefs. The Lions host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday Night Football in Week 7, then have a bye.
If Decker can't play, the Lions could give Manu another start or turn to one of two practice squad tackles Dan Skipper, who missed the start of the season with a knee injury, or Devin Cochran, who was active but did not play Sunday as a gameday roster elevation.
"We’re going to look at everything here," Campbell said. "That’s always going to be our first choice is see where Decker is, but I don’t want to – I don’t want to put Decker out there if it means that we get a couple of games and we don’t have him for the year. It makes no sense, so we’ll play this smart, we’ll do what’s right and then next man up. If it’s not him, it’s next man up."
Dave Birkett covers the Lions for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on Bluesky, X and Instagram at @davebirkett.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Taylor Decker injury update: Lions OT (shoulder) uncertain vs Chiefs
Category: Football
