The Detroit Lions are in the market for a new head coach. They’ll have a bunch of candidates for the job -- a job that could be attractive because of some of the pieces in place. Those include quarterback Matthew Stafford, cornerback Darius Slay and safety Glover Quin.

But what about the job-seekers themselves? Here’s a chance to learn about them, as we profile candidates in a coaching dossier. We continue with a potential favorite from the New England Patriots: defensive coordinator Matt Patricia.

It all starts with intelligence when assessing Matt Patricia, who turned down a career as a potential rocket scientist to coach football. Russell Lansford/Icon Sportswire

Name: Matt Patricia

Age: 43

Alma mater: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI)

Previous experience: Defensive coordinator, New England Patriots (2012-present); Safeties coach, Patriots (2011); Linebackers coach, Patriots (2006-10); Assistant offensive line coach, Patriots (2005); Offensive assistant, Patriots (2004); Offensive graduate assistant, Syracuse University (2001-03); Defensive line coach, Amherst College (1999-2000); Engineer, Hoffman Air & Filtration Systems, Syracuse, New York (1997-99); Graduate assistant, RPI (1996)

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Connection to Bob Quinn, the Lions or Michigan: They were work colleagues in New England from 2004 until Quinn left in 2016 to take the Lions' general manager job. They had similar tracks up within the New England organization, each starting at a low level and working his way to become one of Bill Belichick’s most trusted advisers -- Quinn on the operations side, Patricia on the coaching side. The connections here are high.

Strengths: It all starts with his intelligence. The man is brilliant, turning down a career as a potential rocket scientist to coach football. According to an extremely well-done story by Tim Rohan of the MMQB, his preparation is thorough and immaculate and he is creative with scheme. He understands advanced mathematics and analytics and has shown no reservations in using it to help create game plans and teaching other coaches how to as well. His relationship with Quinn is important here, too. Quinn said Monday he believes the most important relationship in the building is between the head coach and general manager. There might not be another candidate out there who would have a better instant relationship with Quinn than Patricia. Of the things Quinn mentioned during his press conference, Patricia hits on almost all of them other than prior head coaching experience, which is not a prerequisite. He also would come in and understand Detroit’s scouting and grading system since a good amount of it came from New England, too. There’s also this: In 2016, when Quinn was hired, he said he believed Patricia and Patriots offensive coordinstor Josh McDaniels “are both ready and willing to be head coaches” and that he had great relationships with both of them.

Concerns: There are a couple. The first -- and this would apply to anyone who doesn’t have head coaching experience -- is how he would handle leading an entire team, especially one with some veterans in key positions. How he would handle being the face of an organization is another one. Last year, he angered Roger Goodell by wearing a shirt that depicted the NFL commissioner with a clown nose while coming off the plane after the Patriots won the Super Bowl. Considering how the Ford family and team president Rod Wood appear to want to work with Goodell (and are trying to land the NFL draft in Detroit), that would be a question sure to come up in the interview process. This should not, by any stretch, be a deal-breaker or a massive worry, in my opinion, but it’ll be something to watch considering how the Fords typically try to handle themselves publicly (which is to say, very much out of the public eye).