Quinn’s previous three first-round picks fell at 16 (tackle Taylor Decker), 21 (linebacker Jarrad Davis) and 20 (offensive lineman Frank Ragnow).
Selecting in the top 10 for the first time means that almost all of the prospects will be in play, so Quinn and his staff have a little extra work to do.
“When you’re drafting at 21 or even 16, there are five or six players you don’t even spend a lot of time on because you just know they’re going to go in the top couple and you know you’re not trading up because you don’t have the ammunition to go there,” Quinn said at his postseason press conference.
“So, it just widens the pool a little bit. We’re going to have to look at basically every player in that, say, top 15, because you want to make sure if someone slips to you, you’re ready and you’re prepared to draft them, and the evaluation is spot on. It just opens it up a little bit more.”
“I would agree there is definitely a defensive component at the top of the draft, based on everybody that I’ve seen and the meetings that we’ve had when our scouts came in in December for our first set of draft meetings,” Quinn said.
“The key is … the draft is very junior heavy. We haven’t got the list from the league yet. Once that list comes out, I’ll probably have a better feel of really how heavy it is defensively.
“It’s kind of hard to say. It’s a little bit early.”
