PHOENIX –Bob Quinn is starting from a different point in building the Detroit Lions' roster in his second year as general manager, with a full year of hands-on experience behind running the franchise's football operation.
Quinn likes the way his program is taking shape – including the additions that have been made in the first three weeks of free-agent signings – but with one condition.
It's still early in making any determination on where the process stands.
"Our roster isn't complete for this year," Quinn said Monday at the NFL Annual Meeting. "We're still a work in progress. That's a better question for maybe heading into training camp. Right now, I feel good about it.
"Is it perfect? No. Is it the way we want it? No. But we don't have to play a game until September."
The Lions are coming off a 2016 season in which they made the NFC playoffs as a Wild Card with a 9-7 won-loss record.
Quinn repeated Monday what he said in his postseason press conference. His goals are bigger than making the playoffs and being eliminated in the first round, and he did not like the way the season ended.
The Lions lost their last three regular-season games, and were soundly beaten in the Wild Card by the Seahawks.
"I happy with the way it's gone," Quinn said of how his plans have gone so far. "I'm not happy with losing a playoff game.
"We have really big goals here. Just to get into the playoffs – I'm not happy with how we got into the playoffs. We didn't end the season the way anybody expected or wanted.
"That's something we're going to work tirelessly to improve upon – whether it's the roster, whether it's the coaches, whether it's the way we practice, the way we do the offseason. We'll look at everything.
"I feel good at where we are compared to where we were a year ago. There's still a lot of areas in the organization that I want to improve upon."
Quinn targeted the offensive line in the first wave of free-agent signings, adding right guard T.J. Lang and right tackle Rick Wagner. They'll replace Larry Warford and Riley Reiff, at right guard and tackle respectively, who departed as free agents.
Apart from the signings themselves – two players who could upgrade a critical unit – there was further evidence of the philosophy that Quinn expressed last year about football games being won in the trenches. He backed up that statement by taking three offensive linemen and two defensive linemen in his first draft as GM.
Lang, who played at Birmingham Brother Rice High School and Eastern Michigan, brings to the Lions personality, a winning background and a skill set that fits the Lions' offensive line. Quinn values those qualities.
"T.J.'s a guy, he's a really good scheme fit for us – the way he's been schooled, especially in pass protection in Green Bay. The techniques that they taught in Green Bay are very similar to what we teach here – some of that veteran, gritty toughness.
"He's a guy who was a middle- to late-round draft pick who made himself into a tremendous player."
The emphasis might be on winning, which highlights Lang's eight seasons in Green Bay.
The Packers made the playoffs all eight years, won five NFC North titles in the last six years, and the 2010 team won the Super Bowl.
