Now that the Lions have hired a head coach, they can concentrate on filling the vacancy in their front office.

New general manager Martin Mayhew said Friday he wants an experienced talent evaluator as his right-hand man and hopes to have that person in place in the coming weeks. That likely would exclude anyone currently under contract as most teams won't let their scouts/front-office executives go until after the draft.

“We're going to build the position around the person's strengths, whoever that person is,” Mayhew said. “It'll happen over the next few weeks and we've been talking to a lot of qualified candidates. So we'll add some experienced people, some seasoned people to our team, but we feel good about our group right now.”

Among the names reported to be under consideration are former Browns general manager Phil Savage, former Jaguars vice-president of player personnel Shack Harris and ex-Broncos general manager Ted Sundquist.

“Experience is good,” Mayhew said. “I respect that, and we want experienced people who've been through a lot, seen a lot, done a lot of trades, been through a lot of drafts, seen a lot of players. I think that's important.”

Mayhew said April's draft, where the Lions have five of the first 82 picks, is “probably the most important draft that we've ever had as an organization.”

“So I think it would be important for that person to have some background in college scouting, to have done some college scouting and to be very competent in that area,” he said. “But again, it could be somebody with a primarily pro-scouting background. But it will be somebody who is a solid evaluator and who has a history and a good track record.”