Taylor Decker (born August 23, 1993) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

offensive tackle Offensive may refer to: * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative * Offensive (military), an attack * Offensive language ** Fighting words or insulting language, words that by their very utterance inflict inj ...

for the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

Early years

Decker attended Butler High School in

Vandalia, Ohio Vandalia is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States, and a suburb of Dayton. Its population was 15,246 during the 2010 census. In addition to being the city closest to Dayton International Airport, Vandalia lies at the crossroads of I- ...

. He was a three-year starter for the

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

team as a left tackle. He was rated by

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as a four-star recruit and was ranked as the 23rd-best offensive tackle in his class. He originally committed to the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main campu ...

to play college football but changed to

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

. In addition to football, Decker played basketball in high school.

College career

Decker played in all 12 games as a true freshman in the 2012 season. He played mostly

special teams In American football, the specific role that a player takes on the field is referred to as their "position". Under the modern rules of American football, both teams are allowed 11 players on the field at one time and have "unlimited free substitu ...

, but played 22 snaps on offense. Decker took over as a starter his sophomore season in the 2013 season, starting all 14 games at the right tackle position. Decker moved from right tackle to left tackle his junior year in 2014 and was the Buckeyes only returning starter on the offensive line. He started all 15 games, including the

2015 College Football Playoff National Championship The 2015 College Football Playoff National Championship was a bowl game that determined a national champion of NCAA Division I FBS college football for the 2014 season, which took place at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas on January 12, 2015. ...

victory over

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

Professional career

left, 200px, Decker in 2019 Decker was drafted in the first round with the 16th overall pick by the

in the

2016 NFL Draft The 2016 NFL Draft was the 81st annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. As in 2015, the draft took place at the Auditorium Theatre and Grant Park in Chicago. The draft beg ...

. On May 6, 2016, the Detroit Lions signed Decker to a fully guaranteed four-year, $10.96 million contract with a signing bonus of $6.17 million. Decker started all 16 games at the left tackle position in his rookie season and was the only player besides quarterback

Matthew Stafford John Matthew Stafford (born February 7, 1988) is an American football quarterback for the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Georgia, where he was a first-team All-American, and was selected f ...

to play every snap on offense for the Lions. Decker was named the Lions Rookie of the Year for 2016 in voting by the Detroit Sports Broadcasters Association. On June 6, 2017, it was revealed that Decker had undergone shoulder surgery, and was ruled out for four to six months. He was placed on the

physically unable to perform Physically unable to perform (PUP) is a roster designation used in the National Football League (NFL) for players who suffered injuries during football-related activities prior to the start of training camp. Players on the PUP list may participate ...

list to start the 2017 season. He was activated off PUP on November 11, 2017, and started the final eight games of the season at left tackle. On December 2, 2018, Decker caught a touchdown pass from

Lions The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large cat of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphic; adult ...

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

, when celebrating for the touchdown he threw the football into the stands. After the game Decker tweeted that this touchdown was his first touchdown ever, and he had been playing football since the first grade, and requested that he could get in contact with the fan who caught it. On December 3, 2018, Decker was put in contact with the fan that caught it and got his first ever touchdown ball back. On April 29, 2019, the Lions exercised the fifth-year option on Decker's contract. On September 1, 2020, Decker signed a five-year, $70.35 million contract extension with the Lions. Decker revealed in an interview with

Pardon My Take ''Pardon My Take'' (abbreviated "''PMT''") is a comedic sports podcast released three times per week by Barstool Sports. It is hosted by Dan "Big Cat" Katz and PFT Commenter. The podcast debuted on February 29, 2016. It first appeared on the US ...

, that he played the start of the 2020 season with appendicitis. On September 11, 2021, Decker was placed on injured reserve after undergoing finger surgery. He was activated on November 2, 2021. On January 2, 2022, in a game against the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 as ...

, Decker scored his second career touchdown on a pass from Tim Boyle. Decker was awarded the 2022 media-friendly Good Guy Award by the Detroit Sports Media Association and Detroit chapter of the Pro Football Writers Association.

Regular season

References

External links

Detroit Lions bio

{{DEFAULTSORT:Decker, Taylor 1993 births Living people People from Vandalia, Ohio Sportspeople from Montgomery County, Ohio Players of American football from Ohio American football offensive tackles Ohio State Buckeyes football players All-American college football players Detroit Lions players