Dan Campbell teases that a Lions' trade for edge rusher 'could be' coming

The day after Aidan Hutchinson was lost for the season (barring a return for the Super Bowl), Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell dismissed the immediate urgency to add an edge rusher. Three weeks before the trade deadline, that sentiment made sense. No need to rush anything.

During his weekly appearance on 97.1 The Ticket last Tuesday, Campbell was asked about his involvement with adding a new player and if general manager Brad Holmes had him take a look at anything lately.

"Yeah, he’s asked me to check something out. A couple things", Campbell said.

The Lions' defensive line has one sack over the last two games, without Hutchinson of course. Practice squad elevation Al-Quadin Muhammad had six pressures Sunday against the Tennessee Titans (according to Pro Football Focus), as he and Levi Onwuzurile combined for half of Detroit's 22 pressures of Mason Rudolph (according to PFF).

The topic of trading for an edge rusher was automatic to be brought up during Campbell's press conference on Monday, now eight days before the trade deadline.

Dan Campbell knows how to play the game when it comes to a Lions' trade

Campbell was asked if there was any more urgency based on a lack of pass rush pressure from the defensive line on Sunday.

"No, we know when the deadline is, so we've known what that is," Campbell said. "Still talking about it and we're still working through it. I'm not concerned, there's other ways of creating pressure. And yeah, would you like a little bit more? Yeah, we'd like a little bit more, but there was a number of plays in there, too, where they got the ball out of their hand."

"They had some empty that they showed, we thought they'd do a little bit, they did more than we thought so the ball comes out pretty quick," Campbell continued. "They had a couple things where they were attacking us in man coverage that were good so you can get the ball out. We're aware, and we're still looking at it, but I wouldn't say we're in panic mode."

Campbell was then asked if he felt there's anything imminent on the trade front in the next 24 hours? His answer requires the visual accompaniment.

Campbell noted how every team has warts, and how there's obviously no way to replace Hutchinson.

“How do you do the best you can to cover up some of your deficiencies? That’s the name of the game,” Campbell said. “We talk about Hutch—we’re not going to be able to replace Hutch, but there’s other that things we can do, and you know what? You put a bigger burden on your back end, is what you’ve got to do. And we’ve done that and they’ve risen to the challenge. Has it been perfect? No, but we are getting takeaways, which is huge.”

The Lions are second in the NFL in turnover margin at +10 through seven games. That includes the second-most takeaways (15) and the second-most interceptions (10) in the league. Takeaways are inherently random, and without Hutchinson the pass rush from the defensive front has mostly dried up.

Campbell brought a nice moment of levity to things when he was asked directly about the prospect of a looming trade, and he knows how to play that game publicly. But he also has to know there's a serious defensive need that needs to be addressed, and it can't be done with practice squad retreads.