In the wake of back surgery, 6'6, 325-pound offensive lineman Halapoulivaati Vaitai was faced with two options this offseason: keep playing or call it quits. Then two more: test free agency or take a pay cut to stay in Detroit. For Vatai, both decisions were easy.
Retired life was pretty appealing at first. After surgery last September, Vatai got to spend lots of extra time with his wife and children on the family's cattle ranch in Texas. But as the months pressed on, Vaitai, who turns 30 in June, said he realized that retirement "was just a bunch of stuff to do. I was like, 'What am I doing? I can't decide what to do.'"
"The only thing I know is football," he said Thursday after the Lions' third practice of OTA.
Vatai, 29, was confined to a bed for the first two weeks after surgery and had to wait five months to start serious rehab. As soon as he started training again, he knew had more football in the tank.
"I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m not ready to retire yet,'" he said.
As for his future with the Lions, Vaitai never had a doubt. He said watching his teammates play without him last season, especially on the O-line where he was supposed to be the starting right guard, "was just eating me alive, man." He couldn't turn down a chance to take the field with them again, even if it meant settling for less money.
Vaitai was set to have the Lions' fourth highest cap hit this season. That wasn't tenable for a player whose performance and availability has been in flux since he signed a $45 million deal with Detroit in 2020 under the previous regime. In March, he accepted a pay cut that reduced his salary by more than $6 million and also voided the final year of his deal.
It means Vaitai gets at least one more season playing next to Penei Sewell, a player to whom he's been a mentor in Detroit, and under Dan Campbell, the coach who has the Lions on the rise.
"I can’t leave Penei. I can’t leave all my guys. I can’t leave them. I love this team a lot," Vatai said. "I’m going to help Dan win one."
Vaitai won one himself with the Eagles in 2017. We'll see what 2023 has in store for the Lions, favorites in the NFC North. Their strength remains their offensive line, where Vaitai will compete with fellow veteran Graham Glasgow for the starting job at right guard. He's been cautious with his activity in OTA's but said that once "camp comes around, we’re going to turn it up.”
"I feel like I took a step back," Vaitai said of last year's injury. "Now I've got to catch up and then keep going.”
For at least one more year.
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