DETROIT -- Frank Ragnow has been a starter since the first day he arrived at Lions headquarters. Kerryon Johnson has been among the club's most exciting players in the preseason. Da'Shawn Hand has worked his way into the starting lineup the last two weeks of the preseason.

All rookies. All figure to see a lot of immediate action for the Lions this fall.

But that's not how they think about the draft.

"The way we try to evaluate players coming out of college is, what are they going to be their second year in the league?" general manager Bob Quinn said Wednesday during an appearance at the Detroit Economic Club luncheon at the Renaissance Center. "Because being a rookie in the NFL can be really, really hard. The transition from college football to pro football is night and day for a lot of these kids. So when we're trying to evaluate college players, putting grades on a draft board, we really say, 'OK, by Year 2, what can this guy be?' So that's kind of the time frame I use.

"Some guys take shorter than that, some guys take longer, but that's kind of what we look for."

Quinn was joined by president Rod Wood and coach Matt Patricia at the luncheon, as well players such as Matthew Stafford and Marvin Jones. And while nobody really dropped any news, Quinn's remarks provided an interesting insight into his thought process in the draft.

This year, there's a crop of 2017 draft picks that Detroit will be leaning on to make Year 2 leaps. That's especially true with Jarrad Davis, the former first-round pick. He was an immediate starter and led the league's rookies with 96 tackles, but also struggled in pass coverage and briefly lost his grip on the full-time job at middle linebacker.

Davis has received rave reviews from Patricia this offseason, and has joined Matthew Stafford as the team captains throughout the preseason. But he's also shown some more struggles, including getting beat for a touchdown on third-and-long in the second preseason game, then missing a tackle on a 14-yard TD run last week in Tampa. He missed three tackles overall in that game.

Cornerback Teez Tabor (second round) and tight end Michael Roberts (fourth round) were contenders for starting jobs at the outset of camp, but also struggled. Roberts is on the roster bubble heading into Saturday's cuts.

Quarterback Brad Kaaya (sixth round) and defensive lineman Pat O'Connor (seventh round) never made it through their rookie seasons.

But there are others who have bright long-term futures. Kenny Golladay (third round) is one. He caught just 28 passes as a rookie, but did so for 477 yards. That's good for an average of 17.0 yards per catch, which would have ranked fourth in the league if he qualified.

At 6-foot-4, he has big-play ability downfield and is tough to stop in the red zone. He's expected to shoulder a larger load in the offense this year, and some believe he has the potential to eventually develop into a WR1.

"I saw freakish catches (last year), man," fellow receiver Golden Tate said. "Some real freakin' freakish catches. Kenny's still a young guy trying to figure it out, but he's moving at a great pace.

"If he can just keep the mentality he has coming in, he studies, and just tries to get better every day, I'm telling you, this guy can be dominant. He's a WR1 kind of guy."

Jamal Agnew (fifth round) had a terrific rookie season, when he was named first-team All-Pro as a punt returner, but should have an even bigger role in Year 2. He's alternated with Quandre Diggs as the top guy at slot cornerback throughout camp.

As for Quinn's first draft class, it was hit and miss in its second year. Graham Glasgow became a terrific anchor for the offensive line, while Anthony Zettel enjoyed a nice breakout at the back end of the class. But first-round pick Taylor Decker missed the first half of the season because of injury, and wasn't able to recapture his form upon his return. A'Shawn Robinson and Miles Killebrew didn't develop as expected, while Joe Dahl and Jake Rudock played marginal roles. Antwoine Williams and Jimmy Landes didn't make it out of camp.

Here are some other highlights from the Q&A session with Quinn, Wood and Patricia:

Quinn on cutting the roster to 53 players: "Training camp has been a really competitive situation at a lot of positions. I think over the next couple days, we've been talking about it for a few weeks, we're going to have some really hard decisions to keep the best 53 players on the team. Sometimes it isn't always the 53 most talented players, it's really the right fits for us, our team going forward."

Quinn on scouring the waiver wire for cuts: "We have to try to predict who those guys (getting cut) are going to be. The personnel list comes out at 8 o'clock at night and you have until noon (the next day) to decide whether you want to put a claim in on someone. You can't be waiting until the last minute to do the work. I'd say, since the preseason games have started, myself and my staff, we go through every game. We create prospect lists, for each team, of guys we want to target and make sure we have a thorough evaluation on them, so if they do become available, it's an easy decision."

Quinn on what new LB Eli Harold brings to the defense: "We obviously scouted Eli coming out of college a few years back and followed his career in San Francisco. He's a versatile guy who can play at the end of the line of scrimmage, can play off the ball, can rush the pass, set the edge and play in coverage. It's a move we were excited to do."

Wood, joking on the new $5 beer at Ford Field: "Everybody focuses on that. It's maybe the best thing I've done."

Patricia on how hard it is to hold back in the preseason: "There are a lot of situations that come up in a game where I really have to fight myself internally, to just press forward and not go into a mode where we either are going to do something personnel-wise or maybe scheme-wise, so we're not changing up what we're doing to just go win. I have to remember we still need to see this in this game and we still need to see these players or evaluate this scheme or look at this individual situation. That really has to come first. It really does. For us to have a great gauge of where our players are and do a proper job of evaluating them, we have to give them that opportunity."