Quote:Nick Fairley is as physically gifted,  if not more,  than Ndamukong Suh.   Unfortunately,  Fairley doesn't have remotely close to Suh's work ethic.    Excess weight and inconsistent effort have led to numerous injuries for Fairley since he came to the Lions in 2011.   This is the 2nd straight training camp that Fairley actually gained a significant amount of weight.    My guess is at least 98 % of the players in the NFL over the decades have lost weight in training camp.    

 

There have been games in which Nick Fairley was absolutely dominant.    But even in some of those games,  he's disappeared for streches.   There have been other games in which he was practically invisible. 

 

 

Lions GM Martin Mayhew wanted Fairley to be more accountable for his excess weight/  conditioning/  inconsistent play.   But previous HC Jim Schwartz looked the other way.   This is one of the reasons why I believe Mayhew fired Schwartz last winter.   On the other hand,  Jim Caldwell believes players have to be accountable.   Discipline with weight and penalties is a major part of Caldwell's coaching style.   If Schwartz was still the HC,  Fairley probably wouldn't have been demoted to the 2nd team.   Time will tell if the demotion will truly get Fairley playing to the level he's capable of playing at on a consistent basis.   But the truth of the matter is no team can risk taking the chance of giving Fairley a long term contract.   Even after the Lions didn't pick up his 5th year option,  for the purposes of motivating Fairley in 2014,  he didn't stay the course in training camp.     I wish he had the approach to football that Suh,  C.J. Mosley,  and Jason Jones has.