Dave Birkett

Detroit Free Press

Bob Quinn took a measured approach to his first foray into free agency as Detroit Lions general manager last year, signing mostly workman types for the back end of the roster and only splurging on one high-priced wide receiver.

While Quinn’s biggest free agent signing didn’t have quite the impact he hoped -- Marvin Jones had a solid year with 930 yards receiving, but his play tailed off considerably over the final 12 weeks -- Quinn said that won’t keep him away from big-ticket items when the league year opens in March.

“I’m not opposed to free agency,” Quinn said in his end-of-season news conference Thursday. “I think you have to pick and choose your spots.”

The Lions are coming off of a 9-7 season in which they made the playoffs for the second time in three years, but Quinn admitted that their season-ending swoon was “eye-opening” in regard to their place in the NFC pecking order.

The Lions lost their final four games of the season -- to playoff teams the New York Giants, Dallas Cowboys, Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks -- by a combined 59 points. They failed to score a touchdown in two of those games, lost three of them by double digits and lost, 26-6, in the playoffs.

Quinn said he hopes that the Lions will play meaningful games against those teams next season and that “things are different,” though he didn’t detail a plan on how to ensure that’s the case.

“Last year, we did a few things in free agency. Some of those guys worked out, some of the guys didn’t,” Quinn said. “That’s kind of how free agency goes. You’re never going to bat 1.000 in free agency. Ideally, I think I’ve said this a year ago, that I believe in building the team through the draft and then you supplement through free agency. We’ve looked at a lot of the free agents. I’ve looked at a number of them myself, and if we feel there’s a good fit there, we’ll go ahead and do that.”

The Lions have a projected $46 million in salary cap space for 2017, according to Spotrac, though that number surely will change in the months ahead.

Quarterback Matthew Stafford is likely to sign a huge contract extension at some point this summer, though Quinn declined comment about that Thursday. And the Lions have several pending free agents whom they could re-sign (including starters Larry Warford, Riley Reiff, Anquan Boldin and Devin Taylor).

Teams such as the Giants last year (Janoris Jenkins, Olivier Vernon, Damon Harrison) and Denver Broncos in 2014 (Aqib Talib, DeMarcus Ware, Emmanuel Sanders) have fashioned serious playoff contenders through free agency. In the Broncos' case, they landed the final few pieces to a Super Bowl title. Quinn never has given an indication that he'll splurge in free agency, and given his background with the conservative New England Patriots, it seems unlikely.

But he did acknowledge Thursday that the Lions have a myriad of needs to fill, not all of which can be done through one draft.

“We have a number of things we do in the off-season, starting this week and into the next couple weeks,” Quinn said. “We sit down and do a full evaluation of every position, every member of the team, whether it’s the starting quarterback or the last offensive lineman on the practice squad. That’s still kind of a work in progress."

Defensively, the Lions need help at every position after setting a modern NFL record for completion percentage allowed. Taylor will be an unrestricted free agent in March and, even if he re-signs, the Lions still need another edge rusher up front. Starting defensive tackle Haloti Ngata turns 33 next week and is entering the final season of his contract. Two of his backups are free agents. The Lions could use another cornerback to play with Darius Slay and Nevin Lawson. And linebacker might be the thinnest spot on the roster.

Quinn thinks Levy can be as good as he was in 2014

On offense, the Lions might need to replace the entire right side of their offensive line, they have one experienced tight end under contract and they could use a playmaker or two at the wide receiver and running back positions.

Quinn said how and where the Lions decide to use their resources -- including their seven picks in the NFL draft -- will be decided in the months ahead.

“I have a few ideas of what the top (needs) are, but I think I’ll keep those to myself," Quinn said. "But I think they’re ever-changing, though, because there’s injury situations, there’s contract situations. There’s a lot of different factors that go into assessing our needs and, as we get into the early parts of March, I’ll kind of have those finalized.”

Detroit Lions GM Bob Quinn was good, now has to be even better

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

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