DETROIT -- The Detroit Lions already have a preliminary draft board in place, and their personnel department will begin meeting today to hash out the particulars.

And trades -- up or down -- are firmly on the table.

Lions brass wouldn't share too much Monday night during a town-hall meeting with season-ticket holders at Ford Field. But Sheldon White, the team's vice president of pro personnel, did share some insight into the team's trade strategies.

"First off, you have to determine whether you have a player that fits what you want -- how many of those blue-chip players are available ahead of you," he told the crowd. "If we're picking at 10, and there's only seven of those guys, we may consider moving up to get that seventh guy. If there's 13 of them, we may move down to 13.

"But you better be able to count, and make sure that whether you move up or down, you're picking a player that fits you and has exactly what you're looking for when you decide to put that jersey on because he's going to represent all of us."

The Lions have made no attempt to hide their fascination for Clemson's Sammy Watkins, who is one of the best receivers to turn pro in the past few years.

They dined with Watkins' family in South Carolina, attended his pro day and hosted him for a visit in Allen Park. Vice chairman Bill Ford even ventured to the practice facility to meet with him personally.

Then the NFL Network reported Monday that the Lions are slated to host another top-five prospect, South Carolina defensive end Jadeveon Clowney. Considered the draft's best defensive player, he is a candidate to go No. 1 overall to Houston.

The Lions are doing their prep work, should they be able to maneuver a trade into the top five. They likely would have to give up a second- and fourth-round pick to move up to No. 4.

"We'll take a look at it," White said. "As I mentioned earlier, we'll evaluate every scenario prior to (the draft), and then we'll have some decisions whether we want to entertain that or we want to stay put."

White said the Lions already have established a preliminary board, but it would be fleshed out with a series of pre-draft meetings that begin Tuesday.

"We're going to go back in my office tomorrow, and we're not coming out until draft day, with the exception of Easter," he said. "What we'll do in that time is grind it out. By the time draft day comes, we should have gone through every scenario where it's just picking guys off the board.

"There isn't a lot of stress on draft day. All the scenarios, all the mock drafts, have all been completed prior to (the draft itself). So when it comes time to make our pick at 10, if we stay there -- or if we go up, or down, or whatever it is -- we have a list of players to target and we know exactly what we're going to do."