He's faster than KVB and is a beast against guards, so he'll have an easy time handling most tackles. Any real reason we don't just throw him at DE, put SLH/CW at the nose, and sign a cheap FA DE who's good enough to start and call that the D-line? It was just above average last year, what would we lose by trying this and saving a high pick?

Not a bad thought, but I think Suh would be a better fit at DE than Fairley though.

Definitely. Fairly is too slow. If we play a DT at DE it would have to be Suh.

I really like Suh there. It'd be very hard to double team him then, and he'd be monstrous against the run. I wouldn't be mad with making the D-line a superpower by drafting Bjoern Werner at #5, but I'd rather get Fisher or Joeckel, and I'm very confident one will be available when we pick.

It's a good idea if they would be willing to move to a more traditional front, but neither guy is what they want for the Wide-9. Both guys would have trouble playing out that wide and turning back in or going around a OT.

KVB was a 4.7 guy coming out of college, he had good speed for a 270 lbs DE and was much more agile then Suh and Fairley are at their size. When the Lions added him to play DE that's the guy they were thinking about from his time with the Titans, not the shell of a player he became last season.

Maybe if you kept Fairley away from the buffet line and threw him on a crossfit workout. In a 3-4 or a Ravens style defense I think he'd do okay but not in Detroit. I'm still not sold on Fairley and his ability to stay healthy and wouldn't be surprised if he weren't in the long term plans. He has at lest one bad foot and has really skinny legs for a man his size, not a good combination for a D-lineman.

Fairley isnt faster than KVB.

Interesting idea, but Id rather have two solid DTs in the interior.

Things Lions fans love (some have been dormant for a few years, but are always ripe for a comeback):

Backup QBs
Trading down
Fanciful changes of a player's position
Firing coaches

Did I miss anything?

Barry friggin Sanders
The NFL Draft
Despising the GM
Wishing we had cheerleaders
Thanksgiving (before the kickoff)
Throwback uni's
Complaining about the officials
and Lionbacker.com, well when it is working

Let's not forget the Curse of Bobby Layne and needing a new owner