A big win over the Dallas Cowboys came with a crushing injury blow for the Detroit Lions. As is well known by now, defensive end Aidan Hutchinson is out for the season after suffering a fractured left tibia and fibula early in the third quarter of the game.
In the immediate aftermath of such significant news, it's easy for those outside a team to get aggressive in offering possible solutions to Hutchinson's absence. But there's no way to directly replace one of the league's best pass rushers, and there are very few ways to even come close.
It seems inevitable a move will be made to replace Hutchinson for the rest of the season, and perhaps that someone will pair with him off the edge down the road. How big a move that will be is to be determined, but standing pat with who is already in place doesn't feel like a good plan.
Dan Campbell hits expected note on urgency to replace Aidan Hutchinson
How the Lions will fill the void left by Hutchinson was a natural topic during Campbell's press conference on Monday.
"Brad (Holmes) is like always, this comes up every year, and it's not like he doesn't look, you know what I mean. So I know that. So he's doing what he's been doing. He's looking, is there somebody out there that could potentially help us? What is it going to cost? You know, and so those things will always come up. But just because that's there, it doesn't mean we're going to do it, and it's got to be right. If it is, everything's got to be right. And honestly, where we're at now, we're not in a hurry. I mean, I believe in the guys that are here. I believe in that D line, and doesn't mean we're not looking, we're not evaluating. Brad is, that's his job, and he's good at it, and we'll take it as it comes. But our eyes are open, and we want to make sure that we have what we need here."
Campbell went further to express confidence in defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn being able to navigate Hutchinson's absence.
As of this writing it has not been 24 hours since Hutchinson was injured. So while outside ideas of how to replace him can be offered quickly, inside the building at Allen Park they're not rushing it.
Publicly, Campbell was not going to say anything other than what he said on Monday. So the sentiment was expected and automatic, but it's also reasonable so soon after the Lions lost one of their best players for the season.
And Campbell did say they were looking...