{"id":42258,"date":"2026-01-24T00:12:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T00:12:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=42258"},"modified":"2026-01-24T00:12:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T00:12:15","slug":"lions-aidan-hutchinson-named-nfl-defensive-player-of-the-year-finalist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=42258","title":{"rendered":"Lions&#8217; Aidan Hutchinson named NFL Defensive Player of the Year finalist"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/N0d2oFiNeBE76aZRv2SvQQ--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTY0MDtoPTQyNztjZj13ZWJw\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/detroit_lines_wire_usa_today_sports_articles_856\/ee3b3dedfdd3340da05234f6f06b1ac5\" alt=\"Lions' Aidan Hutchinson named NFL Defensive Player of the Year finalist -  Yahoo Sports\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">On Thursday, the NFL\u00a0announced finalists for its 2025 NFL Honors, with\u00a0Detroit Lions\u00a0defensive end Aidan Hutchinson named as a finalist for\u00a0Comeback Player of the Year\u00a0and Defensive Player of the Year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Hutchinson enjoyed a sensational 2025 campaign in his return to play after suffering a gruesome season-ending leg injury in 2024. The 6-foot-7, 268-pound former\u00a0Michigan Wolverines&#8217; pass rusher registered 54 tackles (36 solo, 18 assisted), a career-high in sacks (14.5) and forced fumbles (4), and one interception while starting all 17 games.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Hutchinson\u00a0led the NFL with 100 pressures\u00a0and made Pro Football Focus history, becoming the only player with multiple 100-plus pressure seasons since PFF began tracking player performances in 2006. Hutchinson also logged 1,005 defensive snaps, which set a new career-high and accounted for 91% of all Detroit defensive snaps.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">The four finalists joining Hutchinson for the\u00a0Defensive Player of the Year award\u00a0include\u00a0Houston Texans\u00a0defensive end Will Anderson Jr.,\u00a0Denver Broncos\u00a0linebacker Nik Bonitto,\u00a0Cleveland Browns\u00a0defensive end Myles Garrett, and\u00a0Green Bay Packers\u00a0defensive end Micah Parsons.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">New England Patriots\u00a0wide receiver Stefon Diggs,\u00a0Jacksonville Jaguars\u00a0quarterback Trevor Lawrence,\u00a0Dallas Cowboys\u00a0quarterback Dak Prescott, and\u00a0San Francisco 49ers\u00a0running back Christian McCaffrey.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">The four finalists joining Hutchinson for the\u00a0Comeback Player of the Year award\u00a0include\u00a0New England Patriots\u00a0wide receiver Stefon Diggs,\u00a0Jacksonville Jaguars\u00a0quarterback Trevor Lawrence,\u00a0Dallas Cowboys\u00a0quarterback Dak Prescott, and\u00a0San Francisco 49ers\u00a0running back Christian McCaffrey.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">The winner of the Defensive Player of the Year award will be presented at NFL Honors on Thursday, Feb. 5 at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco during Super Bowl week and will be aired at 9 p.m. ET on NBC and NFL Network with streaming available on Peacock and NFL Plus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>usatoday.com wants to ensure the best experience for all of our readers, so we built our site to take advantage of the latest technology, making it faster and easier to use.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42259,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-detroit-lions"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Lions&#039; 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