Dave Birkett

Detroit Free Press

At least four potential first-round picks were among the prospects the Detroit Lions welcomed to Allen Park on various types of predraft visits, and Bob Quinn’s brief history as general manager shows there’s a good chance the team takes one in this week’s draft.

Of the Lions’ 10 picks in last year’s draft, Quinn’s first as GM, five made personal trips to Allen Park.

Second-round pick A’Shawn Robinson, fifth-rounder Antwione Williams and seventh-rounder Dwayne Washington took top-30 visits to the Lions last year, while third-rounder Graham Glasgow and sixth-rounder Jake Rudock took part in the team’s local day.

The Lions went to Columbus, Ohio, for a private workout and meeting with first-round Taylor Decker.

Quinn, speaking at the Lions’ season ticket holder summit earlier this month, said predraft visits are “an important part of the” evaluation process.

Every NFL team is allowed to bring 30 players to their team facility for meetings and physicals, and they can host a mass workout for local prospects as defined by league rules. Teams can travel to visit and workout as many prospects as they wish.

“It’s much easier to take a guy that you have a comfort level (with) as a person,” Quinn said. “You can look them in the eye, you can ask them some questions, you can ask them some pointed questions and usually you if get the answers you like, then you feel comfortable where they are on the board.”

Last year, the Lions used most of their known top-30 visits on players who were considered mid- to late-round picks. Robinson and New York Giants cornerback Eli Apple were among the few potential first-rounders.

This year, the Lions have followed a similar tact, though Alabama linebacker Reuben Foster, who has a host of off-field issues, and UCLA defensive Takk McKinley, who’s recovering from labrum surgery, made their way through town.

Michigan defensive end Taco Charlton and Michigan State defensive tackle Malik McDowell were among those who took part in the Lions’ local day.

Quinn said interviews at the team facility and throughout the spring are important, but he said he prefers to talk to players at the various postseason all-star games.

“A lot of these guys do have rehearsed answers so we have to do a good job as a staff asking them questions that they’re not ready for,” Quinn said. “The best time that we get to interview these guys is when they go to the all-star games, the East-West, the Senior Bowl, a couple others, because they haven’t been schooled up yet. Once they get to the combine, they have all the answers so that’s a really crucial time for myself and my staff to kind of get to know these guys from an interviewing standpoint."

Here’s a list of players known to have visited the Lions:

Top-30 visits

WR: Chris Godwin, Penn State; Damore’ea Stringfellow, Ole Miss; Kenny Golladay, Northern Illinois; K.D. Cannon, Baylor; Stacy Coley (per NFL Network)

TE: Jason Croom, Tennessee; Mason Schreck, Buffalo (per Draftanalyst.com)

DE: Takk McKinley, UCLA (per National Football Post), Deitrich Wise, Arkansas; Tanoh Kpassagnon, Villanova; Jeremiah Valoaga, UNLV

LB: Reuben Foster, Alabama; Haason Reddick, Temple

CB: Jamal Agnew, San Diego

S: Obi Melifonwu, UConn (per CTPost.com)

Local day participants:

Michigan: RB De’Veon Smith, WR Jehu Chesson, TE Jake Butt (meetings only), OL Ben Braden, OL Kyle Kalis, S Delano Hill, S Dymonte Thomas, LB Ben Gedeon, DL Ryan Glasgow, DE Taco Charlton (meetings only), DT Chris Wormley (meetings only).

Michigan State: DT Malik McDowell, (meetings only); TE Jamal Lyles,

Other schools: LB David Talley, Grand Valley State; DT De’Ondre Hogan, Grand Valley State; LB Brady Sheldon, Ferris State; OT Cole Gardner, Eastern Michigan; OL Andrew Wylie, Eastern Michigan; DE Patrick O’Connor, Eastern Michigan; OT Nate Theaker, Wayne State; OL Robert Kelly, Wayne State; OL Collin Buchanan, Miami of Ohio; S DeJuan Rogers, Toledo; LB Eric Wilson, Cincinnati; DB Desmond King, Iowa (meetings only).

Three different Detroit Lions NFL draft scenarios

Contact Dave Birkett: dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.

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