Detroit Lions edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson has been on quite a journey over the last 336 days. After a remarkable start to the 2024 season, he was the clear early favorite to win Defensive Player of the Year honors. With 45 pressures (per PFF) and 7.5 sacks through four-and-a-half games, Hutchinson looked unstoppable. Then, on a sunny October afternoon in Dallas, while adding another sack to his monster stat sheet, Hutchinson was stopped—and in brutal fashion.
Lying on the field turf at AT&T Stadium, Hutchinson knew his season was over. From the moment it happened, he knew he had broken his leg (both his tibia and fibula), and he saw an opportunity lost, both for himself and his team.
“It was just a devastating thing,” Hutchinson reminisced. “I kinda knew it right away, and it was a lot of pain, but it was more the death of the season that hurt me the most.”
Hutchinson would spend the following days in a Dallas hospital recovering from emergency surgery, staring at the walls and a six-month recovery timeline ahead of him.
“I’ve never stayed in the hospital in my life,” Hutchinson said in May, during his first press conference since his injury. “So, staying in the hospital for a couple of days in Dallas, it was one of the most miserable experiences I’ve probably had in my life.”
As Hutchinson waded through the difficult waters of a long recovery period, processing difficult feelings of powerlessness and depression, his body slowly began to heal, and his perspective began to change.
Since his time at the University of Michigan, Hutchinson has visited local children’s hospitals—particularly Mott’s Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbor—and spent time with children dealing with pediatric cancer. When he arrived in the NFL, Hutchinson and his family started a charity, the House of Hutch charity, dedicated to continuing his legacy of giving back.
Now, while rehabilitating from his injury, he began to reflect on the “Hutch Heroes” children, and he found motivation in their strength.
“I was like, ‘Dude, these kids who are in there for 30 days at a time, getting their treatments, and the parents that are in there with them,’” Hutchinson said. “I feel like that perspective; it makes me just understand more. And I didn’t really before. I just got a little taste of it. So you talk about the silver linings of the injury, and that’s kind of one of them.”
As Hutchinson continued through his rehabilitation process, an unexpected thing happened. The Hutch Heroes children found a unique way to give back to him. Several of the children began creating motivational videos, hoping to encourage the Lions’ superstar to continue pushing through his rehabilitation.
Hutchinson shared this uplifting story with ESPN’s Adam Schefter in a wonderful “Sunday Spotlight” segment leading into the 2025 season:
Hutchinson was cleared for full physical activity in May and spent the majority of his post-recovery time in his offseason, working on his craft. In training camp, it showed. Hutchinson was as impressive as he’s ever been in camp, often taking over practices with his dominance. During joint practices with the Miami Dolphins, Hutchinson spent so much time in their backfield that the Dolphins’ offense needed to continue to run plays, even after a “sack,” because they wouldn’t have been able to get much work done otherwise.
In Week 1, the Green Bay Packers hosted the Lions at Lambeau Field, and opted to double-team or chip Hutchinson on 84.21% of his pass rushes, the third most amongst edge rushers with at least 10 pass rushing snaps, per PFF. Yet, Hutchinson still managed to register two pressures (Hurry and QB hit).
In Week 2, the Lions hosted the Chicago Bears, making it the first time Lions fans had been able to see their superstar edge rusher take the field in nearly a year. Hutchinson didn’t disappoint. He would finish the day with two tackles, a sack, five pressures, and a franchise setting 17th straight game with a quarterback hit.
“I was very happy to get one,” Hutchinson said in the locker room following the Bears game. “I felt the support from Ford Field. It was really one of those moments that you’re like, ‘I’m back.’ I feel like it’s just good to be with the team.”
Hutchinson is indeed “back,” and he looks ready to pick up where he left off on what could be another remarkable season for the Detroit Lions.
