Ndamukong Suh and Nick Fairley Will Provide A Dynamic Duo in Detroit

Ndamukong Suh had a dominant rookie season. After being selected with the second overall pick, Suh won the defensive rookie of the year award and was a first team All-Pro selection. With the Lions 13th pick in this years NFL draft, they selected a defensive tackle in the first round for the second year in a row. They took Nick Fairley out of Auburn, who will create a dominant tandem with Suh in the trenches.

At the beginning of the draft process, Nick Fairley was considered to be the leading candidate to be selected with the number one overall pick. Fairley's explosiveness and quickness were very appealing. However, Fairley only had one really good season with Auburn, so his inconsistency and tendency to take plays off concerned some teams. Therefore, Marcell Dareus from Alabama became the first defensive tackle selected with the third pick by the Bills. Much to the Lions delight, Fairley fell to 13th, where they selected him. Detroit Lions coach Jim Schwartz said about the pick, "The philosophy here was we're drafting to our strength. Defensive line is a strength of what we do. We won our last four last year and you can have probably a quiz show to find out who our corners were in those games, but we were good up front. Being good up front is what drives our defense. We have players that could be an impact player for us at a position. We didn't worry too much about what his [Fairley] playtime was going to be. We knew where he was on the board for us, how much we liked him and he fit really well, so we didn't hesitate to make the pick." Instead of drafting an area of concern, such as the cornerback position, the Lions drafted to the team's strengths and the best player available on their board.

The Lions also have defensive tackle Corey Williams, who will be apart of the Lions interior linemen rotation. Detroit Lions coach Jim Schwartz said, "We play 130 defensive tackle snaps in a game. So, if we're rotating three guys through and they're playing 45 snaps apiece... No. 1, there'll be a little bit of pressure. We can keep rolling waves and waves. We probably -- even Ndamukong Suh -- probably played a little too much for us last year. Not that he wore down, but it was too many snaps in there. You're taking on 700 pounds of man every time you take on a double team and things like that." 

The Detroit Lions defensive linemen have already embraced the pick. Defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch said, “I don’t care how many sacks I get. I want us as a group to get a ton of sacks. I don’t necessarily care about being the best defensive end in the league. I want to be a part of the best defensive line in the league. He’s going to be a part of that and he’s going to step in and be able to add to us and we welcome him.”