Bob Quinn and the Patriot Way in Detroit

New Detroit Lions General Manager Bob Quinn met the local media for the first time Monday, and his hiring marks a stark change of course for a franchise in desperate need of a new path. He’s the first outside hire for the position in over 50 years.

Quinn spent 16 years with the Patriots in all sorts of capacities. He moved from pro personnel assistant to college road scout and national collegiate scout back into the pro personnel side. He spent the final years of his time in New England running the pro personnel department in conjunction with powerful head coach Bill Belichick and No. 2 man Nick Caserio.

He’s held that role since 2012, and the Patriots have been among the most active teams in the league in adding talent from other NFL rosters over that time. And for the most part, Quinn and the Patriots made some real positive additions and subtractions. It’s the Patriot Way of staying elite.

We will have a plan

Some of the bigger names have not worked. Late-season moves to try and coax useful reps out of the likes of Kellen Winslow II and Donte Stallworth failed to help the team back in 2012. Injuries forced the moves, and the Patriots chose veteran help in the playoff push over playing youngsters. Kamar Aiken was on (and off, and on, and off) the roster all year but just wasn’t ready; he led the Ravens in receiving in 2015 after finally developing and getting a chance.

Bobby Carpenter, culled off the Lions’ scrap heap, and Joseph Addai, who had missed the entire 2011 season, were offseason swings and misses. Yet the team made some hard decisions with longtime veterans like Dan Koppen, Jabar Gaffney, Brian Hoyer and James Ihedigbo, opting to replace those reserves with younger, cheaper versions.

The Patriots do this incredibly well. They identify future needs and seek out up-and-coming players who can fill those roles, either via the draft or even off the street. Look at Super Bowl hero Malcolm Butler, an undrafted free agent afterthought who is now a quality, wildly inexpensive starter for a team that earned a playoff bye.

Even a more controversial move like letting prolific wideout Wes Welker leave after the 2012 season came as part of a plan. Here’s the net of the “trade” they made in importing Danny Amendola to play Welker’s role in the offense, while also expanding Julian Edelman’s role. The two have essentially split the ’15 season due to injuries, while Welker bounced from Denver to St. Louis and

Even better, the Patriots in 2014 paid about $700K more for the new duo than Welker got from Denver. He was suspended for four games for substance abuse and is now almost certainly done. Edelman, had he played all 16 games, had a real shot at leading the AFC in receptions.

Of course Welker was once a find off another NFL roster when the Patriots saw value in his skills that were being wasted by the rival Dolphins.

Quinn and the Patriots pillaged Detroit similarly last year. They dealt a seventh-round pick for Michael Williams, a 2013 7^th round pick as a tight end out of Alabama. After missing his rookie season with a hand injury, a wound which purportedly had fully healed by that Halloween, the Lions tried to convert him into an offensive tackle.

Williams showed some promise in 2015 training camp playing tackle. My eyes quickly identified he was the most agile lineman, and his footwork was solid. But the Lions bailed on the project, and Quinn and the Patriots knew a good thing when they saw it and acted swiftly.

Only Gronk played more snaps at tight end for New England. Williams wasn’t great; Pro Football Focus graded him at -5.3 overall, a mark highly influenced by a terrible finale in the loss to Miami where the Patriots gave the relative effort of an underpaid janitor at a closed rest area. He caught 3 passes and allowed one QB hit, no sacks.

Yet the Lions desperately needed someone just like Williams. Right tackle was an unmitigated disaster in Detroit, and the man they chose to keep over Williams, Corey Robinson, couldn’t get on the field. They also had to hit the waiver wire to find a blocking tight end down the stretch, a need which carries into the offseason. Sigh.

Another couple of examples of the Patriots aggressively finding a player languishing on a different roster who fit a needed role in New England:

• Trading for Tennessee LB Akeem Ayers. He got them 4 sacks and 23 QB hurries in the second half of 2014 after being a healthy scratch on a bad Tennessee defense early that year. The Pats dealt a sixth round pick for that, and also acquired a seventh round pick in return. Tennessee used the pick on center Andy Gallik, who earned his grade below Travis Swanson with truly M.I.A. run blocking.

• Dealing for DT Akiem Hicks, who was a miserable misfit in New Orleans in the early part of 2015. Hicks has been a godsend for the Patriots, bolstering depth and playing very good, smart football. They dealt away backup TE Michael Hoomanawanui, whose role was capably filled by Williams. Synergy, folks…

I expect Quinn to be similarly aggressive in making moves to find undervalued players on other teams. The corollary is that he won’t overvalue players currently on the roster, a mistake Martin Mayhew made by not getting enough input from coaches on what they really needed.

That’s why this phrase from Quinn’s introductory presser made me stand up and cheer (h/t Detroit News),

"I learned a great deal about player evaluation, player acquisition, the draft, how to organize a scouting department, and most importantly, the marriage between the scouting department and the coaching staff. All of our decisions will be based on what’s in the best interest of the Detroit Lions, period."

He continued to keep my rapt attention with this,

"We will have a plan. We will use all avenues of player acquisition. The NFL Draft is not the only way to acquire players, free agency, trades, waiver wire, tryouts, other leagues. We will use analytics as a supplemental tool, not a primary tool in scouting. Our team will be based on having outstanding depth. Injuries happen in this game. One of my main roles with the Patriots was to find that next player, and I feel like we are going to have to do that here with the Lions."

We. Will. Have. A. Plan.

Based on his experience in New England, where every last detail is calculated and there is little tolerance for a lack of intelligence or rocking the boat, I trust Quinn’s plan will work in Detroit. Having legendary personnel architect Ernie Accorsi remain on the payroll as a special advisor reinforces this belief.

The plan might not always work. New England found this out when desperation called their name and failed Lions RT LaAdrian Waddle was their answer. Chad Ochocinco famously flopped too, unable to grasp the complexity and rigidity of the Patriot Way.

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The Lions Way won’t be an exact replica of the Patriot Way. Nor should it be, as Bill Belichick is not coming to Detroit. Yet these Lions have real impact talent at many key spots, including the three most important on the field: quarterback, pass rusher, cornerback. If Calvin Johnson returns (and nobody–not even Calvin–knows that answer yet), the Lions have as good a 1-2 punch at wide receiver as any team in the league with he and Golden Tate.

Theo Riddick and Ameer Abdullah are both straight from Patriots central casting at running back, and the impressive young corners Quandre Diggs and Nevin Lawson provide real hope at that perennially thorny position behind Slay.

If Quinn can build around this core, finding useful miscasts elsewhere and fortifying with a solid, functional draft class, the Lions Way with the new GM just might equal unprecedented success for a franchise with one playoff win in the Super Bowl era.