The bad: Decker is contemplating retirement after 10 seasons and several injuries that have him questioning his quality of life after football. If Decker does decide to retire, the Lions don’t have his replacement currently on the roster and ready to step in.
Detroit hoped former third-round pick Giovanni Manu would be that player when they selected him in the 2023 NFL Draft, but that hasn’t materialized yet. Manu made one start for Decker Week 5 in Cincinnati and allowed two sacks and two pressures for a 17.5 pass block grade from PFF. He also suffered a knee injury that caused him to miss the rest of the season.
“Manu, he’s taken steps. I’m not going to sit here and say that we feel convicted that he’s ready to be a major contributor,” GM Brad Holmes said. “We hope that he is. We’re just going to have to wait to see in terms of when we get started in the offseason program, how he comes back in the OTAs – and look, as always, he’s going to have to win a job.
“He’s going to have to beat somebody out. As much as we’re going to surround resources around him, he’s going to have to do his part, too, to make sure he’s doing everything necessary to be as good of a football player that he can be.”
Key stat: Sewell set a PFF record with the highest single-game grade by an offensive lineman in PFF history in Detroit’s Week 3 win in Baltimore in which Detroit rushed for 224 yards (5.9 avg.) and four touchdowns in a 38-30 win. On the field for 37 run-blocking snaps, Sewell earned a 99.3 PFF run-blocking grade.