Lions host Auburn DT Angelo Blackson on pre-draft visit

The Detroit Lions got disappointing returns from the last defensive tackle they drafted out of Auburn, but that won't scare them away from plucking another interior pass rusher from the SEC school.

The Lions hosted Auburn defensive tackle Angelo Blackson on a pre-draft visit today as they continue to look for big bodies to fill out the middle of their defensive line.

Blackson, 6-feet-4 and 318 pounds, is projected as a late-round pick or priority free agent. He had 17 tackles and three sacks in 13 games for the Tigers last year, and blocked four kicks in his college career.

The last time the Lions drafted a defensive lineman out of Auburn was 2011, when they took Nick Fairley with the 13th pick of the first round.

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Fairley missed six games as a rookie with a broken foot, time in 2012-13 with a separated shoulder, and sat out half of last season with sprained ligaments in his knee.

The Lions lost Fairley (to the St. Louis Rams) and Ndamukong Suh (to the Miami Dolphins) in free agency this off-season, and are looking for a rotational tackle to add to a mix that currently includes Haloti Ngata, Tyrunn Walker and last year's fifth-round pick, Caraun Reid.

Blackson, who ran a 5.02-second 40-yard dash at February's NFL combine, is the fourth defensive tackle to visit the Lions this year along with Washington State's Xavier Cooper, Florida State's Mario Edwards Jr. and Oklahoma's Jordan Phillips. Florida State's Eddie Goldman and Arizona State's Marcus Hardison also are scheduled to visit Allen Park.

Here's a list of all the Lions' known draft visits so far:

• OL Antoine Everett, McNeese State

• DT Xavier Cooper, Washington State

• DL Mario Edwards Jr., Florida State

• RB Tevin Coleman, Indiana

• OL Donovan Smith, Penn State

• CB Alex Carter, Stanford

• RB Todd Gurley, Georgia

• DT Jordan Phillips, Oklahoma

• CB Steven Nelson, Oregon State

• CB P.J. Williams, Florida State

• OT Cedric Ogbuehi, Texas A&M

• WR Breshad Perriman, Central Florida

• WR J.J. Nelson, UAB

Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.