The Lions think Giovanni Manu can be the future. Taylor Decker working to make sure of it

New York Times

2 days ago

ALLEN PARK, Mich. — Mentor and mentee, the present and the future, met one morning last week for a much-needed debrief.
There was Taylor Decker and Giovanni Manu, lingering on the field well after Wednesday's practice for a meeting of minds. Manu has been baptized by fire in his second NFL season, receiving the quantity of reps necessary for his individual improvement as a developmental tackle. But some days are better than others.
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Decker, the longest-tenured Detroit Lion and the team's starting left tackle, wanted to check in on Manu after a tough practice. He didn't have to. Nobody asked him to. However, their conversation offered a peek behind the curtain of an increasingly important relationship on this team, and a glimpse of this franchise's environment at work.
'I have so much respect for Taylor,' Manu said. 'He's the man. I'm happy that he's supportive of me and I'm just looking to learn from him. It feels great to have someone like that in your corner.'
Interactions like this don't happen everywhere. However, if you've been paying attention to how the Lions operate, you'd know it's the norm around here. One of the hallmarks of the current iteration of this franchise is its environment. The Lions believe in theirs above all else.
Really insightful stuff from Giovanni Manu today.
-Knows his assignments now and has made strides mentally.
-Detroit's tough practices have prepared him for preseason games.
-Hutch/Davenport reps making him better. Picks Hutch's brain. Veteran OL mentoring him.
(Via @Lions) pic.twitter.com/xGd7K1Fefp
— Colton Pouncy (@colton_pouncy) August 12, 2025
Culture can be a fancy, overused buzzword that proves meaningless coming from the wrong voice. An environment is simply the surroundings in which a life form operates and exists. The Lions have a strong one, and it took years of finding the right mix of like-minded individuals to uphold and carry out this vision.
To replicate the environment the Lions have created, you need veterans like Decker — selfless, egoless players who go about their business and don't mind bringing others along with them. The Lions have many, but none who've played for this franchise as long as Decker has. He wears it like a badge of honor.
Decker oversaw a transition from the previous regime to the current, torn to the studs and rebuilt into a Super Bowl contender. Many before him were slowly phased out. But Decker has been a pillar of the Brad Holmes-Dan Campbell era. He was rewarded with a three-year extension last summer.
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In a perfect world, Decker finishes his career in Detroit and winds up in the team's ring of honor. That's a conversation for another day, though. Decker will be needed this year and beyond. He's an extension of Campbell in the locker room, and a key cog of a once-heralded offensive line now under construction.
All-Pro center Frank Ragnow, one of Decker's closest friends, has retired. Fellow veteran and Pro Bowl guard Kevin Zeitler departed in free agency. Decker, 31, will start on an offensive line alongside three 24-year-olds — two of whom will be first-year starters. A lot has changed this offseason. And yet, Decker and the leaders of this team remain focused on bringing a Lombardi Trophy to Detroit.
That's atop his to-do list. Right below that? Teaching his potential successor everything there is to know about life in this league.
'They're the future,' Decker said, when asked why he's gone out of his way to mentor Manu and other young linemen on the team. 'I'm not gonna be able to play forever.'
'He's a role model to me and there's so much I've learned from him,' Manu said of Decker. 'Hopefully, one day, I get to fill his shoes.'
Manu, a 2024 fourth-round pick out of British Columbia, is one of the most intriguing — and polarizing — players on the roster. He's every bit of 6-foot-7, 350 pounds. He's got tree trunks for legs and 34 1/2-inch arms. He comes equipped with a no-nonsense demeanor and a desire to be great. He's fully aware of the high hopes the organization has for him.
Lions scout Ademi Smith was one of the first in the team's front office to watch Manu, taking note of his length, size and movement skills. Lions senior personnel executive and former NFL GM John Dorsey was next. He caught wind of a private workout Manu conducted for teams leading up to the draft — one that quickly spread around league circles and had teams drooling over his potential. Dorsey told Lions assistant GM Ray Agnew about Manu's workout. Agnew watched for himself, then quickly relayed the message to Holmes.
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'Man, I think you've probably got to take a look at Giovanni here,' Agnew told Holmes.
Holmes evaluated Manu himself. He didn't care about the poor competition or who he was facing in his film. He was looking for traits, separators and tells about the player he could ultimately become in Detroit's well-run ecosystem. After finishing his watch, Holmes called Manu's agent to set up a visit to Allen Park. His calendar was fully booked — except for a Sunday afternoon in the weeks leading up to the draft.
The Lions don't typically conduct visits on Sundays. They made an exception to get Manu in the building.
'One thing that made me really appreciative and knew that the Lions were all-in was that they decided to do the visit on a Sunday,' Manu said on draft day. 'I remember my agent called me, he told me, 'That's something rarely any teams want to do for prospects.' So, he told me, 'Them willing to do this on a Sunday, coming in on a day off to host me, says a lot.' And I was truly appreciative of it. … I remember leaving, I told myself, 'I felt at home here, and I would not mind at all if these guys took a chance on me.''
Enamored with Manu's upside, the Lions took that chance. They saw him as a ball of clay who could be molded into a long-term starter in the right environment. Holmes told reporters it would've been a 'gut punch' leaving the 2024 NFL Draft without Manu. But first, they had to find a way to get into the fourth round — the range they expected him to go.
Holmes had a feeling Manu wouldn't make it to pick No. 164 in the fifth — their next pick. So, he traded a 2025 third-rounder to the New York Jets for pick No. 126 in the fourth and selected Manu. He later received confirmation that his intuition was right. Teams below the Lions had their eye on Manu.
'You always get the answers to the test after you pick them,' Holmes said.
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Holmes has proven to be one of the league's best talent evaluators since he took over in 2021. However, as we enter Year 5 of the Holmes-Campbell era, many have come to expect immediate contributions from Detroit's young building blocks.
In some ways, that works against a player like Manu. It's as though he's externally held to the same standard as those who came before him — even if Holmes tells you that's not the case.
They weren't billed as projects. Manu very much was.
'We were so blown away just (by) his makeup, his character, the way he's wired — and he's got a lot of upside,' Holmes said. 'This is more of a down-the-road future deal, but the upside is enormous.'
Manu has all the tools, but was never taught how to use them. It shows at times. As a rookie, Manu struggled with assignments, while also trying to handle the speed of NFL pass rushers. Understandable struggles, considering he was playing Canadian college football about six months prior to spring football with the Lions.
Making matters more complicated is that Manu so badly wants to be great. He takes it personally when he believes he's letting the organization down. It's one of the qualities the Lions loved about him, but it's a lot of pressure to place on yourself.
'I just want to show them that I'm the player that they wanted me to be,' Manu said. 'I just want to take it up a notch from last year and I want to prove to them that I got what it takes to step foot on that field when I need to be called on.'
Decker can relate.
'I was Bob Quinn's first draft pick,' Decker said. 'He said, 'You should be the left tackle here for 10 to 15 years.' And for somebody to say that to a guy who's never played a snap in the NFL, it's cool — super cool. And it's a privilege to play this game. So if somebody puts their trust in you to be able to go out there and play the game, you want to do right by them. … He knows that he's talented. We know that he's talented, and I think he wants to prove people right because he knows that he has the ability. I think he takes that to heart.'
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That same drive, though, could ultimately help Manu turn into the player the Lions believe he can be. As a rookie, Manu — a healthy scratch much of the season — worked with offensive line coach Hank Fraley and assistant OL coach Steve Oliver behind the scenes. He calls it his year in the 'hyperbolic time chamber' — a Dragon Ball Z reference used to describe how quickly he was developing. Much of that development came in the classroom. Manu now has a better understanding of the playbook, the checks and what's being asked of him in an offense that features arguably the NFL's most diverse run scheme. He's in a much better place now vs. then.
Wanting to build on what he learned as a rookie, Manu began picking the brains of his veterans in the OL room, mapping out his offseason and where he would spend it. He learned that Decker spends his offseasons in Chandler, Ariz., training with former Pro Bowl offensive lineman LeCharles Bentley — a fellow Ohio State Buckeye who works with high school, collegiate and NFL offensive linemen. Decker reached out to LeCharles about training with him when he was a senior in college, and has spent his offseasons in Arizona since.
This year, Decker invited Manu. They two spent a couple of months together in Arizona prior to OTAs, and another month there this summer before training camp. The workouts would start each morning at 8 a.m., with Manu arriving at 7:30. Each day, they spent roughly two and a half hours in the gym together — from weightlifting to offensive line technique to talking about managing finances and other topics that come with the job.
'I think it was really good for him to be out at the gym in the offseason, just kind of give him some sense of direction,' Decker said of Manu. 'Because it can be hard — where do I train, what do I do, when do I start ramping it up? … So, I think it was good for him. He was able to gain confidence and then just maybe train a little differently than he has in the past.'
'Being around him and just seeing the way he works in the offseason, seeing his mindset — I dream to have a career like his and be that long-tenured Lion, franchise left tackle for the Lions,' Manu said. 'It's everything I want to be.'
Glue the bricks together 🧱🧱@itsyaboigio @Lions #BTD pic.twitter.com/ovOqLlZRUL
— OLP (@OLPMedia) March 15, 2025
But the only true way to improve on the field is through reps. Manu's been getting a lot of them.
Manu began camp with the second-team offensive line. But as Decker recovered from surgery for a torn rotator cuff, along with injuries to tackles above him on the depth chart, Manu has received first-team reps — tasked with blocking Aidan Hutchinson and Marcus Davenport.
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He often picks Hutch's brain when beaten for a sack. Hutch informs him it's usually a technique thing — a slight tell or tendency in his stance or footwork that tips the pitch, so to speak. Correctable with time. Frustrating in the moment.
Visibly upset after last Wednesday's practice, Manu was by himself when Decker approached him. Decker remembers similar struggles as a rookie, and how his vets would be in his ear during practice. It was overwhelming at times.
So Decker waited until after practice for a temperature check. They talked. Then talked some more.
'I was just seeing how he was doing, because he's getting a lot of reps put on him right now,' Decker said. 'He's a young player that — he's trying to improve, but he's also trying to improve against two werewolves out there. There's gonna be some growing pains.'
'This is a whole 'nother level of environment for me, right?' Manu said. 'Different competition, new environment, new faces. … Sometimes it is challenging, right? You have your down days and you have your good days. But just to know that he's willing to be there for me, it's really comforting.'
In training camp, you're constantly reminded of all the subplots within the overarching storyline of a season, because you see everything. It's the only time when you'll find members of the front office, coaching staff and the 90 men working to make the roster co-exist. It offers a true glimpse into an NFL environment. And on this day, the Lions' environment was doing its job.
Decker's been in Manu's shoes. Manu hopes to one day fill his. The flashes are there, but we're still years away from learning what Manu will become. He's on his own trajectory, his own pace, his own timeline.
But moments like this, environments like Detroit's and players like Decker give you reason to believe the process.
(Top photo of Manu: Dale Zanine / Imagn Images)
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