Pride of Detroit
Giovani Manu turned to Taylor Decker to help him improve as an NFL left tackle, with the goal of being his future successor.
Following Day 3 of Detroit Lions training camp, as players disperse to their post-practice functions, reserve left tackle Giovanni Manu spent his recovery time running sprints up the training hill at the back of the practice field. He’s grinding out every moment he has in Allen Park, hoping to improve his ability to play left tackle in the NFL.
At 6-foot-8, 340 pounds, rapidly ascending that steep incline is no easy task, but when you consider he attended OTAs in the spring at 365 pounds, it’s clear he’s taking the proper steps to improve himself.
Getting into proper shape is just one of many target goals in Manu’s NFL journey. He’s spent the offseason working to improve himself in several other key areas, and he’s sought out guidance from the Lions' longest tenured player, starting left tackle Taylor Decker.
The Lions traded up into the fourth round of the 2024 NFL Draft to select Manu, and while he spent his rookie season on the active roster, he was a weekly inactive on game days. Manu spent the entirety of his rookie season grinding it out on the practice field and working out with starting right tackle Penei Sewell, whom Manu gravitated toward as they share Polynesian heritage.
But near the end of the season, Manu “was in a lull” and contemplating plans for his offseason training. He sought out Decker for advice, and the veteran left tackle extended an invitation to train with him (along with Netane Muti and Jamarco Jones) at former Pro Bowler LeCharles Bentley’s AMDG Performance Center in Arizona.
Manu jumped at the opportunity. Not only do he and Decker play the exact same position on the football field, but Decker’s career path represents a dream scenario for Manu.
“It’s easy, man,” Manu said of his decision. “He’s the longest-tenured Lion for a reason, right? My hopes–because every hope, as a player when they enter the league, is to have that type of career, stay with one team. He’s a Pro Bowler. He’s had multiple contract extensions. That’s something I want to do. So I just asked him, ‘What’s your recipe to success?’ And he just told me, ‘Just come down to Arizona and train with me, and just learn from me.’ And that was a no-brainer to me.”
While Manu went to Arizona to train his body for the rigors of being an NFL left tackle, Decker’s “recipe for success” included lessons beyond the football field.
“I got to learn so much from him,” Manu said of his time in Arizona with Decker. “In terms of like his life outside of here, we even talked about just non-football stuff, and just football stuff, too. I trained at the same facility as him, and that was all thanks to him, because he wanted me there to work out with him. He’s a great guy....
