The Lions appear ready to move on from Nick Fairley after telling at least two agents that they are out of the running for the defensive tackle, Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press writes. That message has been received by Fairley, who is no longer considering a return to Detroit, Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports tweets.
Fairley is visiting the Bengals today and had interest from about six teams before free agency opened up on Tuesday afternoon, Birkett writes. Fairley was in talks with Detroit for part of Tuesday, but the two sides could not come to an agreement on terms. Birkett notes that the Lions were able to rekindle things with linebacker Stephen Tulloch in 2011 when talks were shut down in a similar fashion, but as of right now it looks like the former first round pick will be headed elsewhere.
In four seasons with the Lions, Fairley racked up 13.5 sacks. After posting a top-20 season for defensive tackles, per PFF (subscription required), he should see a healthy payday no matter where he goes.