After Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell told reporters that he had "nothing new" to share about Aidan Hutchinson's knee injury, it felt like there was some small hope that the star edge rusher might've avoided a freak injury on a sack celebration.
Unfortunately, that doesn't appear to be the case, after all. NFL Network's Ian Rapoport and Mike Garafolo reported after the Lions win in Munich that Hutchinson is, "feared to have suffered a significant knee injury that knocks him out for the foreseeable future." Rapoport added, "Detroit is not expecting good news on the injury suffered celebrating an early sack."
Adding salt to the wound, The Athletic's Jonathan Jones also reported after the game that there's a worry that he will not be back this season.
It puts a huge damper on what's been an incredible high-point for the Lions this season - five-straight wins, a defense that has finally held up their end of the bargain, and a high-flying offense that seems to only be getting better, and now there's nothing to do other than worry about how bad Hutchinson's injury is after Week 10.
Hutchinson 'feared to have suffered significant injury' on sack celebration gone wrong
The Lions' star edge rusher has been having a stellar year, and has been a big leader in the teams' locker room on defense. The entire defensive line behind him, DJ Wonnum, Alim McNeill, and recently rookie Derrick Moore, has been night and day from 2025. It's what makes this injury both sting a ton, but also feel a lot less scary to manage compared to the teams' process in 2024.
Back when Hutchinson broke his leg, the Lions had to make a big move at the trade deadline to fill his role. They went and traded for ZaDarius Smith from the Cleveland Browns, and he was a great plug and play defender for them as they fizzled out in the postseason. But, it was a move that made it obvious that the Lions didn't have the proper depth around Hutchinson to survive an injury to him.
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This season, they do have that - specifically, the health of Alim McNeill will go a long way towards masking the loss of Hutchinson for however much time the team is expecting. McNeill has 5.5 sacks on the year in addition to 24 hurries and four quarterback hits, and he is only helped by players like Skyler Gill-Howard and Tyleik Williams around him.
Of course, Detroit will have to not only hope that McNeill can keep up this ridiculous pace, but also that Moore's recent revelatory play is no fluke.
Detroit learned their lesson from 2024 and feel primed to manage some life without Hutchinson.
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