If you're a Green Bay Packers fan and were hoping the team would sign Detroit Lions left tackle Taylor Decker, you can pretty much put that hope to bed.
Decker and the Lions parted ways earlier this offseason after the two sides couldn't agree on a reworked contract. Detroit wanted Decker to take a pay cut after a down season and the veteran was not happy about it.
As a result, Decker asked for his release, and the Lions later obliged, which put Decker on the open market, where he remains as of this writing.
The Packers and Chicago Bears are two teams that could use more help at left tackle.
Green Bay saw Rasheed Walker leave in free agency and the Bears are set to have a competition for their left tackle spot thanks to the injury to Ozzy Trapilo.
Taylor Decker won't play for Packers, Bears
Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Decker would have made sense for both teams, but according to Justin Rogers of the Detroit Football Network, the long-time Lions tackle doesn't want to play for a division rival of his now-former team.
“I will tell you that (Decker is) pretty anti-playing for the Bears or Packers. That’s the Lions background in him. I know Ben Johnson did it and that was the right situation for him, but Taylor feels kind of dirty about the idea," Rogers said on the Lions Collective podcast.
"It just isn’t interesting to him. I could see him joining a team mid-season, the further he gets away from football and games being played, injuries happening and the right offer occurs. I could also see him not playing.”
While not entirely surprising, we did believe Decker might want to stick it to his old team after things ended in a messy manner in Detroit.
What happened with Decker and the Lions?
Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Decker was not happy with the lack of communication from the team, something he expressed to Rogers.
If you're a Green Bay Packers fan and were hoping the team would sign Detroit Lions left tackle Taylor Decker, you can pretty much put that hope to bed.
Decker and the Lions parted ways earlier this offseason after the two sides couldn't agree on a reworked contract. Detroit wanted Decker to take a pay cut after a down season and the veteran was not happy about it.
As a result, Decker asked for his release, and the Lions later obliged, which put Decker on the open market, where he remains as of this writing.
The Packers and Chicago Bears are two teams that could use more help at left tackle.
Green Bay saw Rasheed Walker leave in free agency and the Bears are set to have a competition for their left tackle spot thanks to the injury to Ozzy Trapilo.
Taylor Decker won't play for Packers, Bears
Decker would have made sense for both teams, but according to Justin Rogers of the Detroit Football Network, the long-time Lions left tackle does not want to play for a division rival of his now-former team.
“I will tell you that (Decker is) pretty anti-playing for the Bears or Packers. That’s the Lions background in him. I know Ben Johnson did it and that was the right situation for him, but Taylor feels kind of dirty about the idea," Rogers said on the Lions Collective podcast.
"It just isn’t interesting to him. I could see him joining a team mid-season, the further he gets away from football and games being played, injuries happening and the right offer occurs. I could also see him not playing.”
While not entirely surprising, we did believe Decker might want to stick it to his old team after things ended in a messy manner in Detroit.
Decker was not happy with the lack of communication from the team, something he expressed to Rogers.
“You never want a player to feel like something has happened to them that they don’t feel good about. You don’t want that,” head coach Dan Campbell said in response to Decker's frustration.
“Deck’s a stud, man. He gave a lot for a long time through three regimes, and we’ll be forever grateful, man,” Campbell added. “He’ll always be a Lion, and it’ll always be his home at some point. So, he’ll be missed.”
Had Decker made the jump to the Packers or Bears, it no doubt would have drawn the ire of Lions fans, as we saw when Ben Johnson left for the Bears.
But that ire would have been temporary and long forgotten once Decker hung up his cleats.
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