Lions have no regrets on declining Nick Fairley's option

When he started the season with a productive first two months and slimmer waistline, Nick Fairley looked like he might make the Detroit Lions regret their decision not to pick up the fifth-year option on his rookie contract.

When he finished it by missing nine straight games with a knee injury, Fairley validated some of the Lions' deepest concerns.

Lions general manager Martin Mayhew said he has no regrets about declining Fairley's option even though the team's top four defensive tackles are ticketed for unrestricted free agency in March.

"No, I don't," Mayhew said at his end-of-season news conference last week. "At 11-5 (overall and) 5-1 in our division, I feel good about what we did in preparation for this season. I wish we could have won those last two games. I wish we were still playing right now, but I don't have anything major I regret in terms of the off-season."

Mayhew announced last spring that the Lions were declining a $5.477-million option on Fairley's contract for 2015 partly as a way to motivate their 2011 first-round pick.

But Fairley's injury history also was a concern at the time – the option was guaranteed for injury only and Fairley missed half of his rookie season with a broken foot and four games in 2012-13 with shoulder ailments – and the Lions did not want to risk tying up that much cap space in a player they weren't sure they wanted to keep with a mega-deal for star defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh still to figure out.

Fairley had 14 tackles and one sack in the Lions' first eight games, but he missed the second half of the season after spraining two ligaments in his knee in an on-field collision with Suh.

He said he would have returned had the Lions advanced one more round in the playoffs.

Though Fairley played well the little he was on the field this year, his future with the Lions remains uncertain.

The Lions are still trying to sign Suh to a long-term deal, and if they do it seems unlikely they also could afford Fairley, who'll arguably be the second best defensive tackle on the market.

Mayhew wouldn't commit to trying to work out a deal with Fairley last week, and while Fairley has made strides with the conditioning problems that affected his play early in his career – he finished the season at 292 pounds, about 30 pounds lighter than he played last year – the Lions' GM offered a tepid response when asked if he's confident Fairley's weight problems are behind him.

"As confident as I can be," Mayhew said.

Along with Fairley and Suh, backup defensive tackles C.J. Mosley and Andre Fluellen also are free agents in what looks to be a weak class.

Jared Odrick, Terrance Knighton, Corey Peters and B.J. Raji are the best young defensive tackles slated to hit the market after Suh and Fairley.

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