Detroit Lions star pass rusher Aidan Hutchinson is probably their best overall defender headed into 2026. After missing almost all of 2024 thanks to a broken leg suffered in Week 5, Hutchinson neatly bounced back in 2025 with 14.5 sacks, four forced fumbles, one interception, and three passes defended.
It might not have felt like it, but this made for Hutchinson's best season of his career. And now, he's got some help.
After losing Al-Quadin Muhammad in free agency, the Lions signed D.J. Wonnum and drafted Derrick Moore, Tyre West, and Skylar Gill-Howard. They also signed Anthony Lucas and Eric O'Neill as UDFA's following the draft. The team saw the noise around their lack of optionality at pass rusher and created a monster competition for the role of EDGE2.
Those additions, plus Hutchinson, have helped land the Lions in the top-10 of Bleacher Report's latest power ranking of the best pass rusher duos in the NFL headed into the 2026 season.
Hutchinson carries Lions' pass rusher room into top-10 ranking
While potentially overlooked, Wonnum could end up being a nice addition to the Lions' roster. He's shown flashes in his stints with the Minnesota Vikings and Carolina Panthers, although he's never been truly dominant. However, the Lions have the benefit of already rostering an unbelievably dominant edge rusher. So, Wonnum isn't going to be expected to produce 14.5 sacks - or more - like Hutchinson can.
With Moore, his impact on the Lions' pass rusher room will all depend on how defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard plans to utilize him, and how many snaps he'll even see sitting behind Wonnum (most likely). Mini camp and preseason can boost his stock and place on the Lions' depth chart, of course, but it does feel like EDGE2 is currently Wonnum's to lose thanks to his veteran status.
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Jared Verse and Byron Young with the Los Angeles Chargers earned the highest billing in the NFC on this list, and rightfully so. Young, a third-rounder taken by the Rams in 2023, has burst onto the scene as the perfect sidekick to Verse. The Rams' post-Aaron Donald reality has not been tough to navigate thanks to these two homegrown talents.
This should give Lions fans hope about Moore developing into a long-term starting piece next to Hutchinson. If he can be as effective next to him as Young is next to Verse, Detroit would immediately become a terror in the NFC North. It's proof that there's major weight to having two elite pass rushers in the fold, and not just one.
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