March 6, 2026, 3:00 p.m. ET<\/p>\n
In a shocking Friday twist, longtime starting left tackle Taylor Decker revealed he had requested his release<\/a> from the Detroit Lions<\/a>.<\/p>\n It comes just more than a week after Decker had announced his intentions to return<\/a> for an 11th season as the Lions<\/a>‘ starting left tackle. Now, Detroit needs to pivot.<\/p>\n While it’s a stunning turn of events, the Lions’ organization has been kicking its tires on potential long-term replacements. Decker revealed last December to the Detroit Free Press that he would mull retirement<\/a> after the 2025 season.<\/p>\n Now that Decker won’t be back in the Motor City, what could a potential replacement look like? USA TODAY Sports’ Nate Davis recently updated his first-round 2026 NFL mock draft<\/a> where the Lions find a long-term solution at left tackle.<\/p>\n Davis put his latest mock together before the Decker news dropped, but he was already thinking about a new left tackle in the Motor City earlier this week. Davis mocked Georgia<\/a> offensive tackle Monroe Freeling to the Lions at pick No. 17.<\/p>\n Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n LT Taylor Decker plans to return for his 11th season in Motown, but it\u2019s time to lay the groundwork for a succession plan. Freeling, who\u2019s 21, may be the best pure left tackle prospect in this draft, and his potential was evident in Sunday\u2019s drills. But with only 16 college starts, replacing retired Dan Skipper as the swing tackle while apprenticing behind Decker would make sense. And, don\u2019t forget, the Lions plucked starting RG Tate Ratledge out of Athens a year ago. – Nate Davis, USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n Freeling, a 6-foot-7, 315-pound offensive tackle, played in all 14 games and started 13 with Georgia last season. Per Pro Football Focus<\/a>, Freeling registered an overall offensive grade of 72.3 and a pass blocking grade of 86.1. Freeling’s run blocking grade was just a 61.7.<\/p>\n According to ESPN, Freeling is the No. 5 best available offensive tackle<\/a> in the upcoming 2026 NFL draft.<\/p>\n For more\u00a0Lions<\/a>\u00a0coverage, follow us on X,\u00a0@TheLionsWire<\/a>, and give our\u00a0Facebook<\/a>\u00a0page a like.\u00a0Follow Josh on X,\u00a0@JoshOnLions<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"March 6, 2026, 3:00 p.m. ET In a shocking Friday twist, longtime starting left tackle Taylor Decker revealed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":798278,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2071],"tags":[95878,146,113,2506,7,147,6,52959,96502,95882,96242,95896,95888,95895,95899,95883,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-798277","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-detroit-lions","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-detroit","10":"tag-detroit-lions","11":"tag-detroitlions","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-lions","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-sstssportsnfllions","16":"tag-sstsnlions","17":"tag-tagamerican-football","18":"tag-tagdetroit-lions","19":"tag-tagnational-sports","20":"tag-tagnfl","21":"tag-tagnfl-hub","22":"tag-tagoverall-neutral","23":"tag-tagsports-news","24":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116187629112182319","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=798277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798277\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/798278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=798277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=798277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=798277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}