Edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson of the Detroit Lions suffered a horrific leg break during Sunday’s victory over the Dallas Cowboys, necessitating surgery. As a result, he is expected to miss the remainder of the season. For the Michigan native who was a first-round selection in the past and is a strong contender for defensive player of the year in the NFL, this is bad news for the division-leading Lions. Before the fracture, Hutchinson was chasing Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott. The 24-year-old pass rusher was mobbed by both teams. In a slow-motion replay of the injury, he is heard stating, “I broke it.” Together with Tom Brady, FOX play-by-play commentator Kevin Burkhardt explained the devastating injury to the audience.
“If you just tuned in, the score doesn’t matter. That’s Aidan Hutchinson, the Lions’ best defensive player who’s laying on the ground, who’s suffered a gruesome leg injury. We’re not showing it. I just hope he’s ok,” Burkhardt said.
With 7.5 sacks, Hutchinson led the NFL. Hutchinson recorded 16 tackles, 6 tackles for loss, and 14 quarterback hits prior to Sunday’s game. Hutchinson finished second at Michigan for the 2021 Heisman Trophy. He was chosen by the Lions with the second overall pick in 2022, and he was named an all-rookie. Hutchinson, a native of Michigan, declared during the 2022 NFL Draft that he had always envisioned himself playing for the Lions.
Hutchinson stated, “I don’t think it has sunk in quite yet.” It’s absurd. The belief was that I had been visiting Jacksonville for a long time, but within the last several days, something has changed. My dream has always been to remain at home. All I wanted to do was stay home in Detroit. I’m ecstatic that I can now accomplish that.” Jim Harbaugh, the current head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers and a former Wolverine coach, stated at the time that Hutchinson reminded him of J.J. Watt.
Harbaugh stated, “He’s a relentless player,” on Houston’s Sports Radio 610. “He doesn’t stop playing. It’s present in every play. He’s all out, and every day when I watch him at practice, he’s the same. It’s kind of intriguing, you know. ‘Who would you compare him to?’ is a question I posed to our strength coach, Ben Herbert, who was also a strength coach at Wisconsin. I’ll put him up against the Watt brothers, he added. “So he makes the comparison to J.J. Watt. In his opinion, there is no one else that compares to agent Aidan Hutchinson. He worked with them both at Michigan and Wisconsin as a strength coach.”
A four-star prospect in the 2018 out of Dearborn (Mich.) Divine Child, Hutchinson broke out as a sophomore in 2019, recording 69 tackles (10 for loss) and 3.5 sacks. Hutchinson earned third-team All-Big Ten honors that season, and then, after a COVID-riddled 2020 season, was a member of the All-Big Ten first team and a unanimous All-American in 2021.
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