Detroit Lions DL coach: Aidan Hutchinson a 'better athlete than I thought he was'
Former Michigan Wolverine defensive end Aidan Hutchinson was long labeled a high-effort guy, but lesser athlete during the 2022 NFL Draft process. The Detroit Lions balked at that, selecting him with the No. 2 overall pick.
Seven weeks after becoming a Lion, they are starting to see the truth about his game.
“Obviously, we’re very excited to have him, but I think he’s a better athlete than I thought he was,” Lions defensive line coach Todd Wash said Monday. “[Head coach Dan Campbell] and I and even [general manager Brad Holmes], we’ve talked about it. I said he’s a better athlete than I thought he was off tape. There’s kind of a unique way he can lean and bend that we didn’t necessarily always see on tape, but out here you really see it, and versus good competition. So we’re excited about where he’s at.”
Hutchinson has proven to be more than just a great athlete and impressive pass rusher, though. He is flashing some of the smarts that he brought to the Wolverine defense as well.
“He’s very, very intelligent,” Wash said. “This morning we played defensive jeopardy basically and he was answering all different questions from even different positions, where you’re like, ‘Damn, that’s good stuff.’ So we’re excited and once we get pads on then I think we’re going to see even more out of it.”
Detroit Lions taking it slow with Hutchinson expectations
Hutchinson, who played in 43 career games at Michigan, was a Consensus All-American in 2021 and a two-time All-Big Ten honoree. Hutchinson, a two-time captain, is the program record-holder for sacks in a single season, notching 14 for the Wolverines in 2021. His play earned him runner-up honors in the Heisman Trophy race.
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Despite the big expectations for production from analysts, the Lions are not going to put a number on what would be a successful rookie year.
“I think he just needs to come out each and every day and get better,” Wash said. “I know that’s a cliché every coaches say, but we got high expectations for him but I think he has more expectations for himself than we probably do, so we expect a solid player and a guy that’s going to help us win football games.”
During his press conference, Wash compared Hutchinson’s ability to that of Yannick Ngakoue. Ngakoue has 55.5 career sacks over seven seasons and posted a career-high 12 sacks in 2017 with the Jacksonville Jaguars and 10 last season with the Las Vegas Raiders.
“We took [Ngakoue] later in the draft, but he led college in sacks his senior year,” Wash said. “And when he came in, he just had “it’ as a pass rusher and Hutch has ‘it’ as a pass rusher, and he still has enough play strength to play a lot of different spots up front and he’s intelligent where he can play a lot of different fronts. So when it comes to that, yeah, he has ‘it’ as a pass rusher.”
