Fairley’s arrests could de-rail his career

Yesterday morning, Nick Fairley was arrested for driving under the influence, and now the Associated Press is reporting that he passed an Alabama state trooper driving over 100 miles per hour.

It’s common to hear or read about an NFL player being arrested for a minor charge, especially during the news-dry offseason. Even so, this is Fairley’s second arrest over the past couple of monthes (the first was for marijuana possession). DUIs are in a different class to me than marijuana possession. Marijuana doesn’t tend to harm anyone except possibly the user (yes, illegal drug deals often have a negative impact on others as well), but driving under the influence has a very real possibility in harming, if not killing, other drivers.

The Lions have to be willing to acknowledge they have a problem player on their roster, and they should find a way to help Fairley make the right decisions. Obviously, you can’t babysit a grown man 24/7/365, but you can help him build relationships in the locker room with other players that do make good decisions. Hopefully, that quality decision making could rub off onto Fairley.

Nick Fairley has a bright future in the NFL, but he has to be around to actually fulfill that potential. It’s always a shame to watch a young player implode like it appears Fairley is currently doing. Let’s hope he can get back on the right track instead of providing another cautionary tale for others to compare themselves to.

About Shane Clemons

Shane Clemons came from humble beginnings creating his own Jaguars blog before moving on to SBNation as a featured writer for the Jaguars. He then moved to Bloguin where he briefly covered the AFC South before taking over Bloguin's Jaguars blog. Since the inception of This Given Sunday, Shane has served as an editor for the site, doing his best not to mess up a good thing.

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