Hank Fraley Has Not Ever Seen Taylor Decker Play Right Tackle
The Detroit Lions are not looking too far ahead when it comes to important roster decisions, or who will switch positions when players return from injury.
Lions offensive line coach Hank Fraley spoke to reporters on Thursday, and understandably fielded a plethora of questions regarding who will fill the role of right tackle and left tackle when Taylor Decker returns off of the injured reserve list in a couple of weeks.
One potential solution that has been gaining a significant amount of traction among supporters is simply allowing rookie Penei Sewell to remain at left tackle and for Decker to make the switch to right tackle.
For Detroit head coach Dan Campbell and his coaching staff, they have continued to reiterate their focus on the next game and that the notion of switching Decker has not really been brought up.
Campbell said earlier this week, “I’d love to entertain that, but we’re so far away from that right now. How do we put the best lineup out there for Green Bay right now? We’ll worry about that when Decker comes back. But, right now, I know that we feel good with Sewell being at left.”
“I’ve never seen Taylor (Decker) play right tackle,” Fraley told reporters on Thursday. “I just know this, if you ask any of our guys to do whatever, they will go out and compete wherever they go. But, that’s not even been brought up.”
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Penei Sewell's debut
Since his Week 1 performance against standout defensive lineman Nick Bosa, Sewell has garnered increased praise and attention for limiting the impact the ex-Buckeye could have had on the game.
The 20-year-old graded out as the highest-graded rookie offensive lineman at any position, according to Pro Football Focus.
“I just love the fact that he went out there and competed, and it didn’t matter if he did have a bad set or whatever, because it wasn’t perfect. He just went to the next play. It didn’t affect him," Fraley said.
Following the Lions' Week 1 loss at Ford Field, Campbell noted that he felt the rookie lineman was "holding his own" in his NFL debut.
"It was probably towards the end of the second quarter, and we’d gone in to this gameplan wanting to take care of our tackles, even when (Taylor) Decker was playing. We wanted to take care of both of them just to be smart, game one, and we were going to be very mindful of him," Campbell said. "It was late in the second (quarter), and I remember I was going to say something into the headset like, 'This kid’s playing pretty good. Like, I feel like he’s holding his own.' I didn’t want to do it, because I didn’t want to jinx him. But, I felt like from afar he really did."
