9:31pm: Quinn was also named the club’s executive vice president, and will report directly to owner Martha Ford and president Rod Wood, the team announced via press release.
6:47pm: The Lions have announced the hiring of Quinn, according to Michael Rothstein of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
4:23pm: The Lions are expected to hire Patriots director of pro scouting Bob Quinn as their new general manager, reports Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Quinn was one of four candidates linked to the job.
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Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press tweets that the Lions say they have nothing to confirm at this time, but that may just mean the team isn’t ready yet to make an official announcement. According to Birkett (Twitter link), Quinn was believed to be in town today for his interview.
Having fired general manager Martin Mayhew during the 2015 season, the Lions had promoted Sheldon White to replace him on an interim basis, and White was one of the four candidates the team was said to be considering for the full-time job. Giants assistant general manager Kevin Abrams and Seahawks co-director of player personnel Trent Kirchner were also in the mix, though Birkett tweets that the Lions never got around to interviewing Kirchner.
Quinn has spent nearly his entire career with the Patriots, having joined the organization way back in 2000. Starting as a player personnel assistant, Quinn became a regional scout before being promoted to national scout in 2008. In 2009, he was named New England’s assistant director of pro personnel, and he was eventually promoted to director of pro scouting in 2012.
Patriots head coach Bill Belichick endorsed Quinn for a general manager job earlier this week, and Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets that Belichick’s support helped Quinn’s case. Longtime Cowboys executive Gil Brandt also likes the moves, tweeting that the longtime Patriots exec will make an “excellent” GM for the Lions.
Per Rapoport, the Lions and Quinn are currently finalizing the details of his contract. Once it becomes official, the new Lions GM will have some decisions to make, including deciding the fate of head coach Jim Caldwell. If Quinn decides to go in another question, it seems likely that Patriots assistants Josh McDaniels and Matt Patricia will be among the head coaching candidates Detroit considers.
Good deal. Maybe he can fill in the lions on how to draft. Patriots haven’t drafted higher than 25 in decade and seem to make no name players into stars
Are the Patriots just Brady and Belichick or is it a system? That is the question.
And another question: Will Caldwelll stay?
It’s a system, but all Brady needs is competent wide outs (amendola, Edelman, lafell, etc.) and he can produce at an elite level due to “skill”
Sounds like a good move. But, he has to be allowed to pick his own head coach!
I am truly disappointed that this roster has not been in at least one SB. With talk of Megaton retiring it looks like it might never happen. What a f#cking waste. Reggie Bush, Megatron, Suh, Stafford…and the list goes on. what the shit went wrong here???
I’ll tell you. And oh it’s a doozy and you’ll laugh. It’s the gosh dang management man. The lions have gone through A LOT of offensive shifts. That’s a lot for a guy like Stafford to memorize and learn how to read and then just throw it away next season. Our defensive has always been mediocre to above average, and we have a great ST.
On another note there is the draft Millin and Mayhew can’t draft worth a rats a**. That’s why the lions fail.
The Lions were never balanced. Offensively they were a passing team as they posed no running game threat. Defensively, they seemed to always have up and down years.
Also it seemed like when the offense played well, the defense sucked but when the defense actually got better (to a respectable, potentially playoff hopefuly D) the offense was miserable.