The Lions can go any number of directions in the first round of the NFL Draft, which kicks off Thursday night.

Guard, tight end, edge rusher, linebacker, cornerback. They're all on the table.

But quarterback? We can safely rule that out.

The Lions have a guy by the name of Matthew Stafford, who's under contract through 2022. They have no need for a replacement.

Not at the moment, at least. But could Detroit look further down the line and search for Stafford's backup and eventual heir after the first round?

"I would say you can start doing it in the second round," NFL analyst Dan Orlovsky told the Jamie and Stoney Show on 97.1 The Ticket. "I know that might be surprising to some people, but if there’s a guy that you as an organization have pegged, like, 'Man, we really like this guy, this is a guy that we honestly believe we can with in the NFL over the long haul,' then I would say second round is a spot where you can entertain it.

Orlovsky believes the sleeper could be Stidham, the junior from Auburn who threw for 36 touchdowns over the last two seasons.

"Physically, Stidham is very impressive. He's not all that different than Matthew, to be honest with you. Strong, tough, good athlete, beautiful thrower of the football, smart. It’s just such a difficult evaluation of him because Auburn’s offense was so painful to watch," Orlovsky said, noting the scheme didn't highlight Stidham's strengths.

"But if you’re a team in the second rounded going, man, I want to draft off traits rather than production -- I know this," Orlovsky continued. "One of the hard things to get a quarterback to do -- and it’s even harder nowadays because of the rules in the offseason -- is get him to stand in there under pressure and be willing to take hits and deliver the football. This dude will do it. It’s ingrained in him.

"So I would say Stidham is a guy that I would just keep my eye on and say, he might not be being appreciated for the player that he actually is."

At the moment, the Lions have Connor Cook and Tom Savage to back up Stafford.

Orlovsky also touched on the thought process for Bob Quinn and the Lions with the eighth overall pick, and which player might be their ideal selection.

"I know a lot of people tag them as an edge rush guy, but I don’t see that," said Orlovsky. "This was a defense and a head coach that you brought in because of his creativity on the defensive side of the ball. This is a team that didn’t have a lot of individual sack leaders, but was relatively productive getting to the quarterback last year, sack wise. (The Lions tied for 11th in the NFL with 43 sacks.) With the addition of Trey Flowers, I’m going, I don’t know if you really need to add an edge rusher to this defense.

"Obviously linebacker is something that has been talked about. Devin White (from LSU) reminds me so much of Patrick Willis from Ole Miss back in the day, was a decade-long Pro Bowler. You could look at inside linebacker for Devin White if he fell, but I don’t see him falling to eight.

"I know tight end has been tied there. I wouldn’t go tight end because it’s a really deep tight end class. I think you can get a really good tight end in the second round. Corner could be something that you could make the case for. Safety could be something, but I don’t see a safety going that high. There’s a lot of places that you can point to for the Lions and they can get value. The likeliest I see happening is somehow them trading back and getting more picks."