Matthew Stafford won't have a say in who the Lions hire as their next head coach, but he could be a big reason why that coach comes to Detroit.

With six head coaching vacancies across the league, and the same names emerging as top candidates for several jobs, Stafford is the piece that some NFL insiders say makes the Lions the most desirable of the openings.

"(Having a quarterback) is just so crucial to your success," said Joe Banner, a longtime front office executive with the Browns, Eagles and Falcons. "There are teams out there right now that are just nowhere near as good as the actual talent on the team because the quarterback position's so bad. So I think knowing you can just kind of check that box and you're likely to be OK there for a while is a huge plus."

While many elements factor into a job's appeal, and those elements vary for each candidate, Banner said three things stand above the rest: Stability at quarterback, quality of ownership and trust in a general manager.

The Lions, Banner said, score high in all three categories.

"I look at the other openings and I think this is the strongest," Banner said. "I've been impressed with what (general manager Bob) Quinn's done. That doesn't mean he's been perfect, but I think he's doing a good job. I think firing a coach with a winning record may prove to be good or bad, but it takes guts and I like to see GMs that have the courage to shoot for being great as opposed to being satisfied with being good. So I think there's a lot of positives there, and I think the big three so to speak, the quality of the quarterback, GM and ownership, I think it's clearly the best situation."

Four of the six openings come with proven quarterbacks, though Stafford seems to be the safest of the bunch.

The Indianapolis Colts have Andrew Luck under center, and a year ago that might have been the most appealing job. But Luck missed the entire 2017 season with a shoulder injury and there's no guarantee he'll ever return to form.

The Oakland Raiders, who Banner said have the second most attractive opening, have Derek Carr at quarterback and one of the NFL's best players (Khalil Mack) on defense. Carr appeared to regress this season, but he played through a back injury and, like Stafford, signed a long-term contract extension over the summer.

The New York Giants have 37-year-old Eli Manning at quarterback and the No. 2 pick in the draft. The Chicago Bears are wed to rookie quarterback Mitchell Trubisky for the near future. And the Arizona Cardinals have the most uncertain quarterback situation after Carson Palmer announced his retirement on Tuesday.

Dave McGinnis, the longtime former NFL assistant and head coach who now serves as a color analyst for the Tennessee Titans, said he considers having a quarterback in place – or least having a viable plan to acquire one – among the most important factors when picking between NFL jobs.

More important, though, he said, is the stability of the organization.

"I mean, ownership is huge," McGinnis said. "Stability of the organization. The structure of the organization. How the organizational structure is set up as far as the lines of authority. Clearly in this day and age, you need to look at how your personnel department is handled, the salary cap shape that your team is in, both presently and projected in the future."

The Lions receive high marks in those categories when compared to their peers as well. The Ford family has owned the team for more than 50 years, ownership typically stays out of football business, Quinn has complete authority over personnel, and the Lions are projected to have north of $40 million in cap space this offseason.

The Giants and Bears have among the most respected ownership groups in sports, but McGinnis, a former assistant with the Bears under Mike Ditka, said he considers the Lions "one of the cornerstone franchises" of the league as well.

Jim Fassel, the former head coach of the New York Giants, said he wasn't turned off by personnel issues when he was looking for head coaching positions. After all, jobs rarely come open unless something went wrong the previous season.

But Fassel said it's important to have an open line of communication with owners and others in the organization, and to know the expectations coming in the door.

"If you go in there on your knees just begging for the job and you'll accept anything, you're probably going to fail," Fassel said. "You've got to go in there and really, in the interview they ask you questions and then you've got to not be afraid to ask them questions. 'I just want you to tell me, and I'm not picking on you, but why have we gone through three coaches in the last 10 years?' ... Look at the background, do the research on the thing."

The Lions began interviews Tuesday with in-house candidates Teryl Austin and Jim Bob Cooter, and in the coming days they're scheduled to meet with more in-demand candidates like Matt Patricia, Steve Wilks, Pat Shurmur and Mike Vrabel.

At least one other team has requested an interview with all four of those candidates, and the Giants, Bears and Cardinals all reportedly have interviews set up with Shurmur.

Quinn said Monday that he's not worried about competing for a coach, and that the Lions have plenty to offer their next hire.

"I think we have great ownership," he said. "I think we have great resources. We have a tremendous fan base. I mean, you saw the stadium (on Sunday). I mean, we had nothing to play for, and that place was rocking. So that's something that head coaches want to know what kind of fan base you have. I think we have a really good, solid nucleus of players that can kind of be molded into what the new head coach wants his team to look like."