The best and deepest position unit on the defense just got deeper and better.

By the time San Francisco rolls into Ford Field Sunday, rookie defensive tackle Nick Fairley could be playing on most passing downs.

"For the limited amount of work he's had, the kid's got it," defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch said of Fairley. "You can see why he's here, you can see his ability. You can see that he's going to give us something."

Fairley, the 13th pick in the draft, still has the surgical screws in the left foot he broke Aug. 1. He began practicing last week and by the end of the week was working with the first defense in the two-minute drill.

He will not unseat either starter - Ndamukong Suh or Corey Williams - nor will he be ahead of Sammie Hill. But the Lions feel like they can use him on passing downs. Andre Fluellen would be the odd man out in the four-man rotation.

"I looked out there and I said, 'Now that's the way life's supposed to be,'" defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham said, watching Fairley work with the first unit. "That's the way it's supposed to be. And I've had a history of having some really outstanding defensive linemen in my career and when I looked out there, boy, I'm still alive, I'm sure, because sometimes you dream about those things."

Fairley, the Lombardi Award winner from Auburn, has been champing at the bit to get started.

"Came here, they told me what I was going to do at practice, I was like, 'Man, can I get the green light?'" Fairley said. "But it's feeling good. I feel like I'm real close and just waiting to hear go and I'm ready to go."

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