The early word out of Lions camp is that defensive tackles Ndamukong Suh and Nick Fairley look the best they’ve ever looked.
Lions coach Jim Schwartz said the whole team is in good shape, with everyone passing the conditioning test, but he pointed to Suh in particular as a player who made the test look like a joke, it was so easy for him.
“Ndamukong’s always been the guy that’s been in great shape, but I think he took it to a different level this year,” Schwartz said. “Quite honestly, he made a mockery of the conditioning test. He really did. Calvin [Johnson] does that every year, too. Calvin can run his times and barely even break a sweat, and I think that’s what those great athletes do. Ndamukong did that.”
Schwartz also had praise for Fairley, who lost weight during the time off between minicamp and training camp.
“I’ll tell you what, he’s really impressive from where he left here at the end of mini-camp to his report,” Schwartz said of Fairley. “You know people make TV shows about Extreme Makeover and stuff like that and I like where he is right now. He’s worked very hard in five weeks or six weeks whatever it was where he was gone and reported in great shape. His weight was done and he just needs to stay on that track. We’ve talked about how talented he his but it’s been more about availability thing with him rather than a talent thing. And it looks like he’s taken it very seriously. I’m proud of him for doing it.”
Fairley said in May that he considers himself and Suh the best defensive tackle pair in the league. They’re putting in the work to back up that talk.