INDIANAPOLIS -- The Lions are on the scene at the NFL Scouting Combine with the same goal as every other NFL team: to strengthen who they are and to become who they haven't been.

It will mean finding players to draft, ultimately nine in seven rounds, barring future trades. But it also means crafting a strategy that carries over from free agency to the draft and connects an organization that has been through a bit of change.

After a 6-10 season with a last-place finish, they don't have much time to wait around. And with $50 million in cap space as well as the No. 8 pick, the resources are there to do it if the plan can take form.

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General manager Bob Quinn and coach Matt Patricia spoke about some of their plans Wednesday. Their goal, always and especially now, is to not reveal what those plans specifically are. But even in doing so, a team can leave some hints along the way.

Here are five thoughts from what they had to say:

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1. Expect the Lions to go hard after some free agents you know

The Lions have said for weeks that they need better playmakers to help turn games around. Along the way, they've let it be known that they'd really like them on defense, guys who can excel on third downs and in the red zone and flip the script of a game no matter how many yards it features.

I pushed Quinn a little on where he feels he can find these playmakers who can translate from another scheme and into theirs, and he admitted that free agency offers the best proof.

"There’s plenty of tape and stuff you can watch against NFL competition if they’re making plays at whatever position they are," Quinn said. "That’s a little bit, I’d say, a safer bet than drafting anybody from the first round down to the seventh because the draft is sporadic. Sometimes you hit, sometimes you miss."

Quinn was fairly quiet in free agency last year with a whittled-down bank account thanks to Ezekiel Ansah's $17.1 million franchise tag, but in the prior two offseasons, he showed a willingness to throw money at a problem he had to fix right then and there. He gave $20 million guaranteed to Marvin Jones in order to try to replace Calvin Johnson, and he gave $9.5 million salaries to T.J. Lang and Rick Wagner in order to keep his quarterback from getting hit so much just as his two most experienced linemen were hitting the road.

This year, the Lions are looking to replace Ansah and Glover Quin, who were their playmakers on defense before falling off last year. That's how Detroit got into this predicament of lacking stars. And he knows getting out of it can't just come in the draft.

This isn't the best free-agent crop in recent memory, and plenty of the most helpful names could wind up getting the franchise tag. But don't be surprised if the Lions make a legitimate run at someone like Landon Collins (11 turnovers forced in four seasons) or Dee Ford (7 forced fumbles and 13 sacks last year) since they have the money to do so.

One target in particular is starting to feel like a certainty.

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2. Trey Flowers could be Plan A

It's not hard to figure the Lions will have interest in Trey Flowers, given their need on the edge and the obvious connection that Patricia helped coach him up from a fourth-round pick into the fundamental force he is today. But the more the Lions talk about what they want to go out and find, the more he fits the bill.

They want playmakers, particularly on defense, who step up on third downs and in the red zone. Enter a defensive end with 5.5 postseason sacks the past three years, including the one that knocked the Falcons out of field-goal range to allow a 25-point comeback Super Bowl win to be.

They want toughness, so enter a man who knows the Patriot Way and no other in the NFL, who goes by "Quiet Storm" in order to let his play do the talking.

They'll look far and wide for these types of players, including here at the combine, but they admit they're also drawn back home to find them.

"It really comes down to what guys are available to you, what guys you think as a system fit and what guys that you know, Yeah, I might have some personal experience with that you feel better about giving a big contract to," Quinn said.

Flowers would be their Ezekiel Ansah replacement, just four years younger, a whole lot healthier and tailor-made for the defensive system they are still trying to implement. He'll be pricey, with Spotrac.com estimating more than $15 million a year for five seasons, and it's long been thought that the Patriots don't spend that kind of money on a position like this.

But sometimes the fit is that good, and sometimes you try something a little different to get where you need to go.

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3. The Lions are also enamored with the best defenders in the draft

Whenever Quinn talks of his desire to add playmakers, he speaks in the plural. As in more than one. That's what it can take to climb from the league's 28th-best defense, according to DVOA, all while replacing two men who have been cogs of the unit over the past five years.

Detroit's free-agency moves will change the specific positions it targets hard in the draft, but they won't necessarily alter the approach because the team needs that much, especially in an area like defensive playmaking.

And so as they take an early look at their options with the No. 8 overall pick in this spring's draft, the same types of skills sets tend to stand out as before. Consider what Patricia said when asked to name the strength of this year's draft:

"There’s some defensive players in there that are impact type of guys that we’ll see how they fall. They could help us."

That follows to a tee the early narrative of this year's class, that it's loaded in defenders at the top. Some of those currently seem out of reach to Detroit, like Ohio State defensive end Joey Bosa or Kentucky edge rusher Josh Allen. Others seem like they could be there, from LSU cornerback Greedy Williams to Alabama defensive lineman Quinnen Williams.

Many have suggested the Lions go after a tight end like Iowa's T.J. Hockenson to answer their most barren position on the roster. It could happen, but perhaps only if certain elite defenders are gone. This is how teams rank their draft board, ordering the players regardless of position at the top and developing a strategy from there. That's the beauty of having nine picks to work with along with free agency.

It doesn't mean the Lions are drafting defense for sure with that first pick. They have a long way to go. But it's starting to feel like a best-player-available approach could align with their desire to add playmakers to that side of the ball depending on how those first seven picks go -- namely, whether another rush for quarterbacks comes into play.

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4. The Lions are interested in a pro-style tight end

The reason that Hockenson has become a trendy mock for the Lions lately is that their roster is that barren at the position and he shows mere flashes of a player their brass has gone on record saying they miss getting to use: Rob Gronkowski. They tried to trade for him last year after whiffing on a number of sought-after targets, and they stumbled through a disappointing offensive season largely as a result.

It's unlikely they allow themselves to make the same mistake again this year. And so with the deepest tight end class in recent years, the likelihood that Detroit spends one of its nine picks on this position seems incredibly high. After all, it'd like to use two on offense lots of the time and currently has nobody stable under contract.

Teams view this position differently, which is why it's greeted with such polarizing reactions in the draft. Some don't ever touch a tight end in the top half of the first round. Others, like the Lions, have been less afraid of that and have been burned, namely with Eric Ebron.

Quinn released Ebron rather than pay him a premium rate on a fifth-year contract, but he said he's open to drafting a tight end in the top 10. The explanation lies in the skill set.

"There’s only a certain amount of offenses in college football that I would say are pro-style. Most of them are spread, four-wide, or three-wide with a tight end displaced," Quinn said. "So, you get into evaluating guys like, ‘Wow, this guy’s a good receiving tight end, right? But can he block?’"

Hockenson is getting rave reviews because he's one of the few prospects who does come from a pro-style offense. Iowa is as pro as it gets at the college level, and Hockenson spent much of his time blocking off the line and then turning those looks into releases either down the field or to the sidelines. He broke out this season with 760 yards and six touchdowns, and yet his blocking highlights are some of his best.

Another player who fits this mold is Alabama's Irv Smith, who currently projects as a Day 2 pick.

Patricia is certainly going to eye players like these down, the same with any who shows those abilities in multiple areas. He, too, likely can't get the visions of Gronk out of his head.

"Those players that have a certain skill set that you have to defend against one way or another can kind of put you in some binds," Patricia said. "We’re going to do the best we can to try to improve that situation for us."

At this point, the safe money is on the Lions drafting a tight end with one of their first three picks.

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Mike Mulholland | MLive.com

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5. Kerryon Johnson is the top back but not a feature one

The Lions made some heads turn in last year's draft, when they traded up in the second round to select a running back with some injury questions and then doubled down by promising he'd hold up in the NFL.

The Kerryon Johnson pick looked excellent when he ran for 100 yards twice in his first seven games, something no Lions back had done in any game in nearly five years. Then he hurt his knee and went down for the count with six games to go. It was more sudden than his decline his last year at Auburn, which kind of sputtered to the finish line, but he was not himself to end a second straight season.

I asked Quinn after the season if he holds the same stance on Johnson, and he indicated he does -- but that durability is relative at a position like running back. He felt some of the issue with Johnson last year was what happens to rookies who have to adjust to 16 games plus four preseason ones in a more physical league. Johnson said he was happy to spend this spring training to be a football player rather than the master of some athletic drill at the combine.

But the plan for Johnson is to still be the lead back, the guy helping to balance out Matthew Stafford's offense, but he alone doesn't answer the running back position. Because he's not Todd Gurley or Saquon Barkley, one of the couple running backs built to take that kind of load on his own.

“I’m not going to put a number on how many touches he’s going to have," Quinn said. "Some of the fantasy football fans out there might want to know that. Once we get our offense kind of installed with our new coordinator, those carries will be kind of divvied up based on what help us win each game."

The latter phrase sounds like an old football cliche, but it's actually a tenet of the Patriot Way that Patricia and Quinn have made no secret about wanting to carry over to Detroit. They felt Jim Bob Cooter didn't adjust enough week-to-week based on opponent weaknesses last year. They replaced him with Darrell Bevell based on a single term he showed in developing offenses built around either Russell Wilson's arm or Marshawn Lynch's legs: "adaptable."

Quinn knows a coordinator can only adapt to what his players can do, which is why he went so hard after a running game last year. Tight end should be next on the list for the offense. And then it's finding the depth to allow those weapons to remain at the architect's disposal.

Expect the Lions to make the No. 2 running back spot a priority between free agency and the draft. It could be a power back, like a better version of LeGarrette Blount to join Theo Riddick's passing elements. But it could also be a player who does variations of everything, to maintain the identity of the offense if and when Johnson goes down.

Quinn has admitted these three-down players don't come cheap. Answering this spot could test just how much he and Patricia want to take their plan to finally run the ball in Detroit.