Nick Fairley playing in mother's honor four days after her sudden death

Just four days after his mother’s death, New Orleans defensive tackle Nick Fairley will be in uniform.

Fairley, 28, missed two days of practice following the sudden death of his 51-year-old mother, Paula D. Rogers, on Wednesday. The former first-round pick returned to practice on Friday and will suit up for Sunday’s game against the Chiefs in Kansas City, according to the NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.

Rogers complained of chest pains and visited a hospital in recent weeks, but the cause of death of is unknown, reports said. Fairley returned home Wednesday to be with his family in Mobile, Ala. Two days later, he rejoined the team with a plan to play on Sunday, as his mother would have wanted.

After four seasons on the Detroit Lions, who drafted him 13th overall in 2011, and another on the St. Louis Rams, Fairley signed a one-year, $3 million deal with the Saints in March. Part of that decision, per the NFL Network, was to be closer to his mother, who attended his games in New Orleans.

Fairley has a team-high 3.5 sacks for the Saints this fall and leads their interior line with 11 tackles.

Many NFL players have played shortly after a close family member’s death. Brett Favre’s Monday Night Football game one day after his father died in 2003 was probably the most memorable. More recently, Washington Redskins rookie Su’a Cravens played a week after his grandfather’s death.