Recently, the Detroit Lions declined to pick up the option on defensive tackle Nick Fairley, which was actually used as a bit of a motivation tactic to get the underwhelming Fairley to step him game up this upcoming season. General manager Martin Mayhew even admitted this much recently.
"“I have to ask myself, ‘Is he a $5.5 million player right now?'” general manager Martin Mayhew told MLive.com. “There are some performances where he is, and some performances where he’s not. I think it’s going to be an incentive for him to have an outstanding season, and that’s what I want more than anything else.”"
So, with the threat of possibly giving up on him completely after they drafted him in the first round a few years ago, are they looking to add to the motivation by possibly drafting one of the many talented defensive tackles in this year’s draft?
It might not be in the first round, but there are a lot of experts that expect a certain Notre Dame front man to be available in the second round that could be chosen for not only the purpose of helping the defense, but to get Fairley’s head straight as well.
"Head coach Jim Caldwell did attend Notre Dame’s pro day last week and probably did some due diligence on Louis Nix III if he were to slip out of the first round."
Jim Caldwell is a competitive coach, so it wouldn’t be beyond possibility for him to pull this off.