Hindsight is always 20-20. I thought the Lions made a great selection landing defensive tackle Nick Fairley with the 13th overall pick in the first round of the 2011 NFL Draft.
Seemed almost too good to be true he was still there, which is proving to be the case given his off-the-field conduct.
When Auburn won the BCS national title 2010, Fairley was to the Tigers' defense was Cam Newton was to the offense. He controlled games. There were suggestions before the draft that there were "character issues" involving Fairley, but they sure didn't translate to the field. When he was introduced to the Detroit media, Fairley did say all the right things.
But it is turning out there might have been reasons besides a run on quarterbacks that a dozen teams passed on Fairley in the draft. Two recent well-documented off-the-field issues have brought them to the forefront.
There are some issues that are obviously there, issues the Lions either didn't research properly and discover, or knew about and thought wouldn't matter. And they do matter. Fairley, whose injury-plagued rookie season netted just 15 tackles and a sack, could already be facing suspension from the league. Odds have gone up considerably that he will be bust rather than a star or even serviceable player. If that does prove to be the case, the Lions will have nobody else but themselves to blame.