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Rod Marinelli, fired Monday after three years and a 10-38 record as head coach, and to a greater extent ex-president Matt Millen, left the Lions with more holes to fill than draft picks to make.

Quarterback, offensive line, No. 2 receiver and tight end are all pressing needs on offense, and defensively there are only a handful of players worth keeping.

First up, of course, is hiring a replacement for Marinelli who agrees with new general managerÊ Martin Mayhew's philosophy on how to build a team. Mayhew said last week he wants a physical defense, and most everyone on the Lions' short list of candidates has that in their background.

Spagnuolo and Schwartz oversee two of the most aggressive, creative defenses in the NFL. The Titans ranked fifth in the league with 44 sacks this year, the Giants were sixth with 42, and both teams earned first-round playoff byes.

Other candidates, like Vikings defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier, Dolphins assistant head coach Todd Bowles and Redskins secondary coach Jerry Gray, share similar high-pressure philosophies.

Mayhew said "the most important" part of hiring a new coach is identifying what players "you can keep."

"What you don't want to do is scrap or get rid of good players because they don't fit your system anymore," Mayhew said. "It happened with Dre Bly. We go Cover 2, he's not a good Cover 2 corner. And you spend money on Dre and Dre's a good player and he's still playing, but now he doesn't fit anymore.

"That's going to be part of our process with these coaches. We're going to say, who can you keep? That's important to us."

Only a handful of players from last year's 0-16 team are must-keeps for the Lions, though the more players they get rid of now, the more perilous their salary-cap situation becomes.

Calvin Johnson is one of the best receivers in the league and would fit in any system. Kevin Smith is a physical running back who fell just short of 1,000 yards despite splitting carries the first half year. Right tackle Gosder Cherilus, last year's first-round pick, is no doubt in the Lions' long-term plans. And offensive linemen Jeff Backus and Dominic Raiola likely will be back next year, too.

On defense, linebacker Ernie Sims and end Cliff Avril aren't as big as Mayhew would like, but they're physical enough and talented enough to be building blocks. Cory Redding, Dewayne White and Leigh Bodden are the only defensive players with seven-figure deals that run beyond 2010, and the Lions can get out of the Bodden contract by declining his $8.6-million bonus next month.

Recent high draft picks like Jordon Dizon, Drew Stanton and Ikaika Alama-Francis have more murky futures, but Mayhew successfully reworked the bottom of the Lions roster after taking over for Millen in September. Stuart Schweigert, Dexter Wynn, Adam Jennings, Travis Taylor and Junius Coston all signed two-year deals and will compete for jobs next year, and the Lions hope to re-sign midseason acquisitions Keary Colbert and Moran Norris as well.

"I think the back end of our roster is a bunch of solid, blue-collar hard-working guys," Mayhew said. "We were signing guys not just to get through four, five weeks of the season, but signing guys that have an opportunity to help us in some type of role next year."

While players wrestled last week with how much or how little talent the organization has -- "There's talent in this locker room," Bodden said; "This team needs a lot," countered quarterback Dan Orlovsky -- new team president Tom Lewand said a solid foundation is in place.

"We have a roster that's started to develop under some principles and a philosophy that Rod Marinelli had that wasn't markedly different than a lot of things we're talking about in terms of toughness, in terms of the kind of work ethic," Lewand said. "So we have a good nucleus of players, some vets, some younger guys, and that's part of the coaching search. That's part of finding somebody in here who shares that kind of philosophy, who is a leader and who can bring additional talent to the organization."

David Birkett covers the Lions for The Oakland Press. E-mail him at dave.birkett@oakpress.com and read his blog at theoaklandpress.com.