PHOENIX — Nick Fairley was drawing interest from the Cincinnati Bengals. He was drawing interest from the New England Patriots. And he was drawing interest from the Detroit Lions — though maybe not as much as one would expect, given Detroit had already lost its other starting defensive tackle. Some guy named Ndamukong Suh. Fairley eventually signed with the Rams for a reasonable $5 million, though his deal includes another $3 million in possible incentives according to ESPN. Why didn’t the Lions do more to try to keep their former firstound pick?
“We’re kind of looking at our situation, what fits, what suits us at this point in time,” coach Jim Caldwell said last week. “Taking all things into consideration, we just thought it was obviously one of those situations where it didn’t work. “We decided to go elsewhere, and those kinds of things. Nothing personal.” Fairley was a tremendous talent for the Lions when healthy and motivated — as talented as Suh, players and coaches liked to say. But he was rarely in peak form during his four years with the team.
