Allen Park — The Detroit Lions got a huge boost at the offensive tackle position on Thursday, as Taylor Decker, Penei Sewell and Dan Skipper all returned to practice after being listed as non-participants on Wednesday. Each player was tabbed as limited during Thursday’s session.
The Lions were already going to be without left guard Christian Mahogany for the foreseeable future, so some stability at tackle is a welcome sight as they try to patch up the 6-foot-3, 327-pound hole on their offensive line.
Sewell (shoulder) and Decker (shoulder, knee) were both dealing with injuries suffered in Sunday’s 27-24 loss to the Minnesota Vikings, but finished the game. Skipper was ailing from a back, per the team’s injury report.
Decker has been fighting through the shoulder injury since training camp but believes he’s past the worst of the knee ailment, which he sustained against Minnesota, and expects to play against the Washington Commanders on Sunday. Sewell told reporters on Wednesday that he also expects to play.
“I have very little concern (about the knee),” Decker said. “It’ll be there, but I don’t foresee an issue.”
Decker was optimistic about his status after Sunday’s game but wasn’t sure if he was disillusioned by the amount of pain medicine that he took, saying Thursday it was a relief to learn that his injury was not serious.
“I even knew during kind of the game, I felt like I kinda knew the severity of it, and I told the training staff I will want to play,” Decker said. “Obviously, those things were up in the air, and I mean, I could step weird tomorrow and something could happen.
“But yeah, it was kind of a sigh of relief that I did dodge a bullet because it could have been a lot worse.”
The Lions had three players absent at Thursday’s practice: safety Kerby Joseph (knee), defensive lineman Pat O’Connor (knee) and running back Jacob Saylors (back). Running back Craig Reynolds (hamstring), offensive lineman Miles Frazier (knee), defensive lineman Josh Paschal (back) and linebackers Malcolm Rodriguez (knee) and Grant Stuard (foot) were limited for the second consecutive day.
nbianchi@detroitnews.com
@nolanbianchi