Opinion: Nick Fairley Is A Bust Until He Proves Otherwise
By Eric Thomas
If Nick Fairley needs any extra motivation to get his act together, he need look no further than his smiling mugshot photo printed from sea to shining sea. If Nick Fairley would like to tell us he is not the immature brat many NFL teams feared he would be, he is going to have to demonstrate it now. It is far too late for apologies and half hearted statements written by people with law degrees. The benefit of the doubt left long ago.
Nick Fairley was circled as a top pick when he left Auburn. He absolutely dominated the BCS Championship Game on national television. He was the most important cog in a defensive wheel that birthed a championship at Auburn. He fell to the Lions because there were questions about his character. Many teams rejected him as a bad egg for laziness and others questioned his level of commitment. Fairley answered those questions definitively in early April when he was arrested for marijuana possession. He put an exclamation point on those questions and underlined them when he was arrested over the weekend after evading police, DUI and various other charges.
Fairley has done the ultimate disservice to himself. He proved all his critics right. Every team that passed on him deserves accolades.
They saw trouble and sidestepped the danger. They passed on him because they thought that he had "character issues". Fairley better get used to the label because its tattooed on him now. Articles from this day forward will describe him as "troubled" and "controversial" and not even on the field performance will take that away. Media labels are permanent.
I don't know how all of this sits with Fairley. I hope he climbs out of this, but it is starting to look unlikely. You can chalk the April arrest up to immaturity, this goes beyond that. This is a startling lack of judgment. Fairley embarrassed not only himself in April, but he embarrassed his entire team. Stafford and Schwartz both had to answer questions about him during the OTAs. The leaders on the team had to make up excuses and cover for his selfishness. They defended him and said that they would work it out.
When someone sticks up for you in a time of need, you owe it to that person to keep your nose clean. Someone laid his reputation down on the line for Nick Fairley and look how he responded. He responded by selfishly not caring for the sacrifices of others. He did not repay the favor. Instead, he made his team mates and coaches look like chumps for backing him in the first place.
The Lions can't cut Fairley. It just doesn't make sense. He was a high draft pick and he in under contract. You might as well write "BUST" on his forehead now either way. There really doesn't need to be any further evaluation. He is going to be suspended, and this one is going to be a doozy. The commissioner is going to bring the hammer down on him hard. Not just because he messed up twice, but during the second time he was actually undergoing treatment under the NFL's substance abuse program. Fairley is going to be made an example of.
Last year he couldn't get on the field in the beginning of the year because of injury and now he will miss the beginning of the year because of a suspension. Sounds like Charles Rogers to me! So write it down in big block letters: "BUST" and toss Fairley in the cozy pile of projects that didn't work out. He will find a lot of company there.
If Fairley wants to fight that, he will get that chance. When he eventually gets on the field next season, he will have his opportunities to get it done. He can toss off that oppressive yoke. He can prove all of his detractors wrong. He can be the dominant force that Lions fans were hoping for when they drafted him last year.
But Fairley has to earn it. He has to work to get respect because none is owed to him anymore. If you want to be treated like a superstar you have to perform like one. The only thing that Fairley has earned at this point his his label as a likely first round draft bust.
