When Taylor Decker announced he would play an 11th NFL season, anything other than him doing so for the Detroit Lions was simply not thought of. Then he subsequently announced he had asked for and been granted release, hinting at talks about a pay adjustment going awry.
Decker remains unsigned as the calendar flips to April, which had invited the idea he could come back to the Lions. But his recent conversation with Justin Rogers of Detroit Football Network put the kibosh on any idea that will happen.
Decker is generally confused by the entire situation, calling a lack of follow-up communication after an awkward split.
“It’s been radio silence,” Decker told Rogers. “It’s uncomfortable. It’s awkward. It feels like a high school breakup, where you can’t even make eye contact when passing each other in the hall.”
Rogers shared how "after giving everything he had to the franchise for a decade", Decker "expected more. He wanted to hear from his coach, from the general manager.”
On one hand, Decker may need to realize the Lions had other business to take care of after giving him his release. Making time for a thank you phone call could easily get lost in that frenzy, and making a high school breakup analogy just lands weirdly.
But on the other hand, Decker's perspective on his situation is not a good look for head coach Dan Campbell and general manager Brad Holmes. They both give off a strong vibe of being very player-friendly, in a manner appropriate to their jobs, and "radio silence" with a long-time veteran like Decker is a direct contrast to that notion.
Dan Campbell adds to ongoing Taylor Decker situation with new comments
Holmes is not at this week's league meetings in Arizona due to what has been deemed a personal matter. But Campbell is, and as expected he was asked about Decker on Monday.
"There was a path (for him to come back), Campbell said.“It was on a reduced price, but yeah, we were willing to..."
Campbell then went bigger picture, while revealing he won't be compelled to call Decker so soon after Rogers' revealing article came out.
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"I’m going to give nothing but flowers to Deck for everything he did for us and what he did for this organization. Look, I’m sure as hell not going to call him right now, not after all this article came out. But I’ll call him,”Campbell said. “I’m going to call him in time. But I want him to know it’s real and it’s a real phone call. Man, we appreciate everything he did.”
Campbell is not one to be overly worried about perfect decorum or outside perception when it comes to certain matters. So it's clear the sentiment Decker gave to Rogers about his split from the Lions landed rather uncomfortably, and Campbell wants to make sure Decker knows he wasn't spurred to action by it.
When the time is right, as expected, Campbell will be the one to call Decker to thank him for what he did for the Lions' organization. The question is if (or how) that call will be answered, now that the veteran left tackle has drawn his line in the proverbial sand.