Nick Fairley remains with the Lions' backups

Defensive tackle Nick Fairley was demoted to the Detroit Lions' second-team defense last week. The exact reason behind Fairley's demotion wasn't clear at the time, but it was believed to be related to another motivational tactic after he put back on much of the weight he lost this offseason.

Evidently, the Lions didn't see enough in Friday's game against the Oakland Raiders to promote Fairley back to the first-team defense. On Monday, he was still stuck with the backups, and Jim Caldwell actually made some comments about the situation. From MLive:

"If you're asking me whether or not Fairley is going to be a starter, he's not starting right now. He's second team," Caldwell said. "But the rest of it, we'll look. It's a long week, we've got a lot of work to do in between, and typically, like most games, we'll take a look with where we are and make an assessment toward the end of the week."

Given how things have gone lately for Fairley, I would expect C.J. Mosley to once again be in the starting lineup when the Lions take on the Jacksonville Jaguars later this week. Yes, it's a long week, and things could change by the time Friday arrives, but it doesn't seem like Fairley has received the message the Lions are trying to send him. Once that happens, perhaps Fairley will receive a promotion back to the starting lineup, but he's a backup for now.