I appreciate that he's put himself through a lot to be able to play, but– as a father myself– I admire that he acknowledged that every sacrifice of time, energy, and ability a father makes, his family makes along with him. It definitely sounds like only a minor medical miracle would keep him from retirement, but after reading this I completely get it.
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Just retire, big guy. Go enjoy the rest of your life and be happy with what you’ve accomplished. It’s a game and they’ll move on just fine.
To be fair allot of jobs are like this but you don’t get to be a multi millionaire.
Reading this makes me feel that he should retire. You just have to do what’s best for yourself and your family. At some point those are the only people you can have loyalty to.
Sometime I feel so guilty being a fan of this sport. For elite players like Taylor Decker, the money might be a worthwhile tradeoff for a lifetime of pain. But what about all the guys who never see a second contract? They might earn 3 million dollars in their career. That’s really not that much anymore. I wouldn’t trade my health for 3 million dollars.
He gone.
This sport puts its players through a literal hell. Notice how the players post-retirement are mostly from skill positions like WR, QB and DB. The big guys up front, RBs, FBs rarely have a football career post-retirement. We barely hear about this sort of thing because our culture denies men showing weakness, so when it does happen we need to understand that it’s real and that they need support from their families and friends. I genuinely wish all these guys have a good healthy life after retirement.
Hopefully he can heal up and not have to go through that again.
He’s very fortunate to have the ability to decide to stop working and be present with his family at his age. I’m honestly surprised more 2nd contract players don’t retire earlier as you’d start to realize that quality of life is more than stacking another million on your other millions.
The part where he says your kids are only little once. So fucking true, and it’s 100% worth it to sacrifice whatever you have to in order to be around for as much of that as you can.
Shows when the man says he is physically incapable of even soft tossing a football
Do NFL teams invest in recovery protocol? Sauna, cold plunge, theragun massage etc, assisted flexibility machines? And if so do they enforce it on healthy players to?
Yeah that’s a wrap.
Just feeling grateful we had him so long. Dude’s a warrior, and a good guy.
Nothing but respect for him.
I once lived downstairs from a guy who was a center in the NFL for about 5 years, played enough starter some games in a some seasons, but wasn’t a starter. Not a star by any means. Two years after his career was done he had so many issues. The stuff I could see were like mangled toes (just black and blue toenails and missing toenails) and about half his teeth were implants or fake. His nose bent in about 3 directions….
I cannot imagine the joint pain and such….
I hope he retires. Nothing more important than family
He’s retiring, he just hasn’t fully come to terms with making that decision. Decker has been there for us since the Jim Caldwell era. Thank you for the excellent seasons, Decker. We’ll miss you, but go have fun being a father and husband. They’re the two best “job titles” you could ever ask for. I know they’re my favorite two “job titles”.
He’s retiring
I think he’s just showing class. And making this moment about his teammates. And not himself.
I’d expect a presser within the next week or so…
He was my favorite player the day he was drafted, I ordered his jersey the day his number was set, I am going to miss him so much. Top 3 favorite Lion of all time.
Time to hang up the Honolulu blues, at some point you just gotta do what’s best for yourself and your family
Time to ride off into the sunset big guy. We love you here but theres things that are bigger then football, in our own personal lives. Go enjoy your kids and the millions you’ve raked in. We appreciate everything youve done and more
Lions have been very fortunate to have a good run of LTs in Lomas Brown, Jeff Backus, and Decker. Sounds like they probably need to identify another.
Honolulu Blue #68 qued up in my cart right now. Thats Detroit’s LT! DETROITVsEVERYBODY
Sounds to me like hes exploring other options to fix and if it doesnt work hes done
Just retire. You’ve earned it.
You’re absolutely right. Kids are only young once. And if you can’t even throw a ball with your kid because your body is so wrecked from work…
You *might* regret retiring.
You *will* regret missing time with your kids.
Can’t say I blame him. Jason and Kylie Kelce talked about this before. She couldn’t trust him to watch his toddlers alone because he couldn’t move after game days. It’s scary to be that young and that immobile. I would want to be there for my kids, too!
I’m 99% sure he said “it asked a lot of my wife.” He is talking about how almost all of his time was committed to work and that he barely had any time for his family. He’s saying he was selfish because he put all of those responsibilities on her.
Aye man, you don’t owe us anything. Put up the helmet and go be with your kids. All love.
As a Lions fan I don’t want to see him go, but as a man with a family of my own he absolutely needs to go right now, his kids deserve that quality time with him
Can’t believe someone that goes out to play football everyday can’t even throw a football because of the condition he is in. I would love to have him back next year but you gotta do what you need to do
I love Decker but as a new father I wouldn’t give any of that time up with my son for work. In the end it wont be what mattered