Lions look ready to move on from Nick Fairley

The Detroit Lions are moving on from Nick Fairley.

The Lions have told multiple people that they are no longer interested in re-signing Fairley, whose injury and weight issues have been a concern for years.

Fairley is visiting the Cincinnati Bengals today and had interest from about six teams before NFL free agency opened at 4 p.m. Tuesday.

The Lions had dialogue with Fairley's agent in recent days, but were lukewarm about bringing him back for a fifth season.

Last year, the team declined the fifth-year option on Fairley's rookie contract over worries about his health and motivation, then watched as he missed half of the season with two sprained ligaments in his knee.

The 13th overall pick of the 2011 draft, Fairley has 13.5 career sacks and has missed 18 career games.

He played at as much as 320 pounds during the 2013 season before shedding weight after undergoing sleep apnea surgery last spring and finishing the year around 290 pounds.

With Fairley headed elsewhere, the Lions could lose their top four defensive tackles from a season ago. Ndamukong Suh is expected to sign the richest contract for a defensive player ever today with a the Miami Dolphins, a six-year, $114-million pact that includes $60 million guaranteed, and C.J. Mosley and Andre Fluellen are low-priority free agents.

The Lions traded two draft picks to the Baltimore Ravens on Tuesday for two-time all-pro Haloti Ngata to fill one of the holes on their defensive line, are still in the market for another free agent defensive tackle and likely will take to bolster the position in this spring's draft.

With Fairley and Suh gone, the Lions now have no players left from their 2010-11 drafts.

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