Detroit Lions’ Aidan Hutchinson shines early, gives defense hope

May 28, 2022

2 4 minutes read

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But there’s something that jibes with his time at Michigan: His strength, or at least the perceived lack of it on an elite level. Campbell admitted Hutchinson’s biggest learning curve will come from the physical part of the game, where he must adapt to higher speed and the quality of play from elite offensive tackles, like Taylor Decker and Penei Sewell.

If you’re looking for Hutchinson’s red flags, they arrived with his weight-room measurables. He notably skipped the bench press at the combine, then got quite a bit of help from a spotter who turned it into a synchronized event at U-M’s pro day. The video is pretty cringe-worthy, especially when compared to Kayvon Thibodeaux’s combine performance.

But there’s a difference between weight-room warriors and football players who have functional, practical strength while they play, you know, football. And Hutchinson shined on the field Thursday. He had three simulated sacks while playing with the third-string defense against back-of-the-roster players.

“He’s got a ton of room to really even get more powerful, if you will,” Campbell said.

Hutchinson doesn’t look like the biggest guy out there. But he’s quick and dynamic, like he’s trying to make something happen on every rep. Yes, they’re all in shorts without pads. And yes, it’s still early. But so far, Hutchinson is living up to those early expectations by applying what he’s learning in the meeting room.

“He has this quickness that’s just unbelievable,” defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn said. “He has this ability to bend and turn and continue to work his hands that is outstanding. Those are one of the things I talked about in practice yesterday with our D-line coach like, ‘Just watch him. He’s always working. He’s always working. ‘ That’s the relentless attitude that you guys could see when he was at Michigan that made him so successful. It’s natural for him. There’s no doubt in my mind that this player is going to be a really, really good player for us. I’m excited to see him once we get into training camp and he gets into games for us. ”

A lot of people like Campbell for his colorful imagery. Biting kneecaps, et cetera. But to me, one of Campbell’s most endearing qualities is his honesty, which he demonstrated again Thursday when I asked him again about Hutchinson’s strength.

“So his strength is good enough to go out there and compete,” he said. “No problems there, but yet, man, there’s still a ton of meat on the bone with him, which is pretty exciting.

Look, you can never tell for sure, but I would say this, it’s one of the reasons why we wanted to pick this guy – his DNA says he’s going to do everything that he can be successful, and he’s got enough ability and enough strength, he certainly does, to go out there and help us and help us win some games.

“Now, when will that be, how fast will that be? I don’t know. I know this, we’re not going to put him out there until he’s ready. I mean he’s going to have to show it to us, but we’ll see how it goes. “

Campbell is right. You never know about a player until the pads come on, the pressure mounts and the games count. At the very least, Hutchinson is starting to show his coaches something. The sooner he shows them more, the better.

Contact Carlos Monarrez at cmonarrez@freepress.com and follow him on Twitter @cmonarrez.