Sports

Reports: Lions No Longer Pursuing Fairley

March 11, 2015 / 1:12 PM EDT / CBS Detroit

CBS DETROIT - Unsure whether they wanted to keep defensive tackle Nick Fairley for a fifth year, the Detroit Lions declined to pick up Fairley's option before the 2014 season. With Fairley now a free agent, the Lions have reportedly decided to part ways with their 2011 first-round pick.

Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press first reported the Lions would be moving on from Fairley, and Charles Robinson of Yahoo confirmed the news.

The Lions are telling people Nick Fairley won't be back http://t.co/VYek6KvPiD via @freep
— Dave Birkett (@davebirkett) March 11, 2015

Fairley has never played a full NFL season; he missed six games in 2011, three games in 2012, one game in 2013 and eight games in 2014 after suffering a knee injury midway through the year.

Consistency and weight were areas of concern the Lions had with Fairley, though he did appear to make improvement in those aspects in 2014 following a brief demotion during the preseason.

Fairley had just one sack in his eight games last season. He had turned in six sacks in 2013 and 5.5 sacks in 2012.