Mysteries: Nick Fairley's NFL Draft Stock is Falling

Ask Oregon (Fairley had three tackles behind the line, a forced fumble and a sack in the National title game). Fairley decided to leave a year early and he immediately was tabbed the likely No. 1 pick. Then, he only checked in at 6-4, 294 at the Combine (slightly bigger than Warren Sapp, a player he’s been compared to, in 1995). Questions began.

He’s 20 pounds lighter than Marcell Dareus!

The pundits looked at tape.

Is he technically proficient?

Fairley started falling in mock drafts. Every anonymous scout started to poke holes in his game.

He’s really only the 15th-20th best player in the draft.

And now, this, from one of the 1,742 draft “experts”:

"Despite measuring in at a shade under 6-4 and lighter than expected (291 pounds), Fairley “looked soft,” according to the source. This first impression of Fairley’s conditioning was only reinforced by his “limited” understanding of defensive schemes during team interviews. The source also referred to the fact that Fairley doesn’t use his hands well and has been able to be successful largely due to his natural talent."

So. Nick Fairley is just a dumb kid from a junior college who overpowered a bunch of college offensive lineman on raw power, but he doesn’t have the size, skill set or smarts to hack it in the pros. Got it.

Hell, at this rate, maybe Fairley will fall to the Jets at 29? I’d be down with the Jets switching to a 4-3 defense if Fairley falls that far.

Between the incessant ripping of Cam Newton and now Nick Fairley, it kind of makes you wonder – do that many anonymous “scouts” hate Auburn? Who is planting all this nonsense?

I’ve got Fairley at 4 to the Bengals, but if he falls any further than that, we start talking about EPIC STEAL territory. He becomes a tear-up-the-first-round-game-plan-and-grab-him type player.