Lions options to replace injured Taylor Decker vs. Texans

The Detroit Lions appear poised to overcome some more injury-related adversity in the team’s Week 10 trip to Houston. Left tackle Taylor Decker is unlikely to play for Detroit in Sunday’s game after not practicing all week with a shoulder injury.

“I can’t see him practice today,” Lions head coach Dan Campbell said of Decker in his Friday morning press conference. “It’s about how he heals. I don’t feel like this is a big deal, but we have to really see how he does over the next 48 hours.”

That doesn’t bode well for Decker’s availability against the Texans. If Decker is indeed out, the Lions lose a cornerstone starter at left tackle for a matchup against one of the more aggressive defenses in the league.

Any Decker absence would require some serious struggle for the Lions’ offensive line. With both starting guards, Graham Glasgow and Kevin Zeitler, being strictly interior players, that means one of the depth tackles would get the nod.

Moves Penei Sewell from right to left

Switching All-Pro right tackle Penei Sewell from his normal side to the left is a potential solution. That’s what the Lions did in Weeks 2 and 3 of the 2023 season when Decker was sidelined.

It is not a perfect solution. Sewell had two of his three career lows by PFF while playing at left tackle. He hasn’t taken a known training rep on the left side since the summer of 2022 apart from these weeks as well.

The Lions would have to decide if it’s worth weakening at right tackle by moving Sewell to the left side, where he hasn’t been as effective. Especially in run blocking, the Lions lean heavily on Sewell being the best right tackle in the league.

Dan Skipper

Typically the Lions extra tackle and 6th lineman in heavy formations, Skipper has been the only other tackle active on game days for the vast majority of the season. Specifically, his preseason and training camp, where he played left tackle, was a mixed bag.

The 6-foot-9 Skipper tends to play too tall in pass protection, a real problem against more athletic and smaller pass rushers. That’s not much of an issue against Houston, which tends to play bigger ends outside of Will Anderson — whose status for Sunday is also up in the air due to injury.

Interestingly, Skipper has performed better at right tackle than left throughout his career in the preseason and short opportunities in the regular season. If Sewell kicks to the left side, Skipper’s relative struggles on the right side could worsen.

Colby Sorsdal

Now in his second season, Sorsdal has been a healthy scratch for most of 2024 and has only played on special teams when active. The 2023 fifth-round pick repeated exclusively at right tackle in training camp and the preseason, stepping in when Sewell needed rest, otherwise repeating second- and third-team offenses.

Sorsdal did not have an encouraging summer, constantly struggling with the speed of the Lions defense in practices and the speed of the game in preseason games against Pittsburgh and Kansas City. Simply by familiarity with the right side, Sorsdal would likely be the starting option there if Sewell switches sides.

Jamarco Jones

The veteran Jones is on the Lions practice squad after joining the team in the preseason. He played well at left tackle in the exhibition game against the Chiefs and has some limited regular season NFL experience from the left side, though he has primarily played right guard in his stops with the Seahawks and Titans.

Jones also has some live game experience playing as an extra tackle, which could be useful if Skipper is to play as a starter. If he avoids penalties, which has been a struggle for him dating back to his college days, Jones is the most effective pass-blocker of the backup options.

Giovanni Manu

Manu was drafted in the fourth round with the implicit knowledge that he was not ready and would not be ready to play in 2024. That has been made clear by several coaching comments.

The giant Canadian collegian has been a healthy scratch all season and was one of PFF’s lowest-rated pass-blockers in the preseason. These low grades passed the eye/sniff test based on the very technically raw Manu from what we also witnessed in practice. He should only be considered an emergency.