The Detroit Lions have exercised the fifth-year option on 2016 first-round pick, left tackle Taylor Decker.
“Entering his fourth NFL season,” the Lions said in a press release, “Decker has appeared in 40 career games (40 starts) for Detroit. He was drafted by the Lions in the first round (16th overall) of the 2016 NFL Draft out of Ohio State.”
Decker’s contract was set to expire after the 2019 NFL season, but this move today extends Decker’s contract through the 2020 season. The details of the 2020 salary cap hit have not been released but it is calculated by finding the average of the 3rd-25th highest salaries of the players at the same position from the previous season.
His salary cap hit should roughly land around $10 million.
This contract is non-negotiable and becomes guaranteed if Decker is injured at any point or if/when he is on the 53-man roster at the beginning of the 2020 season.
Decker had a stellar rookie season, earning a Pro Football Focus season grade of 81.9, but a torn labrum (shoulder) impacted his success in 2017 and he saw a dip in his grade landing at 65.3 per PFF. Last season his grade rebounded to 70.4 and he was able to play on 1062 of a possible 1075 offensive snaps.
