Bob Quinn accepted the Lions’ GM job in January 2016, and the first hire he made was that of Kyle O’Brien as his director of player personnel. After working alongside Quinn for a decade in the Patriots’ scouting system, O’Brien then spent time as the Chiefs’ national scout and the Jaguars’ director of college scouting before heading to Detroit.



“It’s extremely important,” Quinn said of O’Brien’s hire at the ’16 combine, “because we’re talking the same language about players. … We’re trying to really get everyone talking the same language about players, which for me to sit there in front of the meeting room and talk the whole time, I need another voice that’s been in the same rooms that I’ve been in in the past and can talk about the players in the same respects.”



Quinn promoted O’Brien to vice president of player personnel in 2017, the position...