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          Potential candidates for Lions general manager: Ted Sundquist

          Ted Sundquist (seen here with Mike Shanahan, left) was the Broncos' GM for six years and had a 58-38 record with three playoff appearances during his time in Denver. AP Photo/Ed Andrieski
          • Michael Rothstein, ESPN Staff WriterNov 10, 2015, 11:00 AM ET
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              Michael Rothstein is a reporter for NFL Nation at ESPN. Rothstein covers the Atlanta Falcons. You can follow him via Twitter @MikeRothstein.
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          ALLEN PARK, Mich. -- Detroit Lions owner Martha Ford is trying to conduct a national search to find the next team president and general manager after she fired Tom Lewand and Martin Mayhew earlier this month.

          Ford offered no clues as to what she would be looking for in her first foray into front office hiring other than she is going to try and hire the “very best leadership” for a franchise that has one playoff win in the Super Bowl era.

          By making the moves when she did, she gave herself -- and whomever might be advising her in these decisions -- a wide swath of time to examine every possible candidate, and there are a lot of potentially logical ones out there. Over the next few weeks, we’ll look at potential candidates for the general manager spot as well as handicap whether or not the Lions will interview him or her.

          Potential candidate: Ted Sundquist

          Age: 53

          College: Air Force (undergrad); Colorado (Master’s)

          Playing history: Sundquist did not play in the NFL. He played for four years as a fullback at Air Force, and he then fulfilled his military commitment. While not in football, he did reach the Olympic trials in the bobsled in 1988.

          Employment history: Sundquist’s entire player personnel career was in Denver. He started as a personnel assistant in 1992 and became a pro scout in 1994. He was the Broncos’ Director of College Scouting for seven years from 1995 to 2002 before being promoted to the team’s general manager in 2002. He lasted six years as Denver’s GM with a 58-38 record and three playoff appearances. He was eventually fired in March, 2008. Extremely active on Twitter, he now runs the website The Football Educator, and he also co-founded a scouting tool called “Eye-Scout” that uses algorithms to predict which players will fit in a franchise.

          Why he’d be a fit: He had some good drafts, including nabbing Elvis Dumervil in the fourth round in 2006, Domonique Foxworth in the third round in 2005 and Clinton Portis in the second round in 2002. He also picked Jay Cutler with his first round pick in 2006 and D.J. Williams with his first round pick in 2004. His best draft with the club might have been when he was running the college scouting department in 2000. The Broncos took four players who played over 100 NFL games and another, sixth-round running back Mike Anderson, who played in 98 games. As GM, his best draft came in 2006, when he took Cutler, tight end Tony Scheffler in the second round, receivers Brandon Marshall and Domenik Hixon along with Dumervil in the fourth round and guard Chris Kuper in the fifth. He also had a nose for trades -- swinging the Portis for Champ Bailey deal in 2004 that got Denver one of the better cornerbacks in league history. He also got the Lions to trade him cornerback Dre’ Bly for Tatum Bell and George Foster.

          What concerns should there be: Sundquist has been out of the game -- at least as far as being in a front office goes -- for a while now. His LinkedIn profile had him as the Director of Player Personnel for the Omaha Nighthawks of the UFL for eight months in 2010 but other than that, he’s been outside pro football in an official capacity. He did go on some interviews between Omaha and now -- San Francisco in 2010 and the New York Jets in 2013 -- but his time away should be a concern as the league’s cap structure and rookie wage scale has changed.

          Reality -- he would be a candidate: He should definitely be looked at. Even though he’s been out of the NFL for a while, he has shown an interest in getting back in -- and even tweeted he wouldn’t rule out any opportunities after Mayhew was let go last week. He also offers a little bit of a different situation because the Ford family could interview him immediately to get a feel for whether or not he would be the type of general manager the franchise would want. If he were to be the choice, he could also start immediately, which would give him a head start on other candidates currently with teams. It wouldn’t be surprising if he landed an interview or an informal conversation, but his time away from the game could be a detriment.