There's simply no way for the Detroit Lions to totally replace Aidan Hutchinson, outside of a huge move that it feels like general manager Brad Holmes won't do. Which isn't to say a noteworthy trade won't be made, it just wasn't going to happen before the first game after Hutchinson's injury.
With an injury to someone as significant as Hutchinson, even it may only be for a game or two before someone is added to the mix, opportunity automatically knocks loudly for others. At the very least, it was going to interesting to see who played more or was deployed differently in the first game without Hutchinson.
With that focus in mind, let's take a look at the Lions' snap counts from Week 7 against the Minnesota Vikings.
Detroit Lions' Week 7 snap counts: Who filled in for Aidan Hutchinson?
As expected, an even around dealing with an injury that caused him to exit the game twice, Josh Paschal played as season high 87 percent snap share (52 of 60 defensive snaps) against the Vikings. According to Pro Football Focus, he logged 38 snaps on the left side edge-Hutchinson's most frequent side of the defensive front.
Paschal had the Lions' lone sack of Sam Darnold that came from a defensive lineman.
Elsewhere, also as somewhat expected, Isaac Ukwu played 34 snaps-mostly on the right side (28 snaps, according to PFF). On 22 pass rush reps, PFF did not credit Ukwu with any pressures.
James Houston split his nine snaps between the left and right edge, registering two of the team's 15 pressures in the game.
Levi Onwuzurike split his snaps between the edge (15 snaps) and inside as a defensive tackle (11 snaps) against Minnesota. Rookie Mekhi Wingo is primarily a defensive tackle, but he saw all 11 of his snaps on the edge.
Linebackers Malcolm Rodriguez, Trevor Nowaske and Jack Campbell lined up as outside linebackers a bit against the Vikings, and all three had a sack in the game.
Overall, Sunday's performance from the pass rush and edge rushers proved an addition needs to be made. And not someone from another team's practice squad. Hutchinson was performing at an atypically elite level before his injury, but this stat is telling.
Per PFF, #Lions had 15 pressures as a team yesterday against the Vikings.
— Nolan Bianchi (@nolanbianchi) October 21, 2024
In his last full game (Week 4 vs. SEA), Aidan Hutchinson had 15 by himself.