The Detroit Lions have a whole slate of interviews scheduled for their next head coach, but two frontrunners have emerged in the search.

According to Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press, New England Patriots defensive coordinator Matt Patricia and Houston Texans defensive coordinator Mike Vrabel are favored for the job, even in spite of the fact that the team wrapped up their first interview on Tuesday with in-house candidate Teryl Austin and has plenty more to go and possibly to come in the coming days.

Here's a look at what Birkett has heard on the matter of the next boss the Lions might hire after day one of the process.

Austin met with Quinn and Lions president Rod Wood as part of an interview process that's expected to include at least five other candidates and will stretch into next week and possibly beyond. Defensive coordinators Matt Patricia of the New England Patriots and Mike Vrabel of the Houston Texans are considered the favorites for the job, while Austin, 52, is a long shot.

All along, Patricia has seemed like the favorite, but Vrabel's name is interesting. He's viewed as a rising star in coaching circles himself even though he's only been at it for a short period of time. He has experience from the Patriots too given he played linebacker there for years under Bill Belichick successfully. Though his tenure as a coordinator is short, clearly the Lions are high on him.

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Additionally, Birkett said that Patricia's interview is likely to be this weekend with the team, which makes sense given that's when they'll be open.

Wilks can’t interview until next week. Patricia will be this weekend https://t.co/DS8fGdBCbz — Dave Birkett (@davebirkett) January 2, 2018

So far, it looks as if the Lions will be interested in a defensive minded boss. If this report is true, that looks likely to be the case.