The Detroit Lions earned an impressive 47-9 win over the Dallas Cowboys in Week 6, but it came at cost. Aidan Hutchinson, the team’s top defensive player, suffered a gruesome leg injury and had to be carted off because of it.
The play occurred when Hutchinson sacked Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott in the third quarter of the game. Hutchinson quickly beat right tackle Terence Steele, but the Lions pass rusher’s left leg whipped into the leg of his teammate Alim McNeill as he rounded the corner.
Hutchinson’s leg buckled at is hit McNeill. While the 2023 Pro Bowler was somehow able to finish the sack, he remained down in pain after the play, immediately reaching for his injured left leg.
Medical personnel from both teams tended to Hutchinson on the field as members of both the Lions and Cowboys looked on. His leg was eventually placed into an air cast before he was carted off the field, receiving well wishes from members of both teams as he departed.
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The Lions later revealed that Hutchinson broke both his left tibia and fibula. That injury is expected to keep him out long-term, so the Lions will need to find a way to replace him in their lineup.
How long is Aidan Hutchinson out?
The Lions announced on Monday that Hutchinson had undergone surgery to repair his leg injury. They declined to provide a timetable for his return to action as part of that statement. However, head coach Dan Campbell told reporters on Monday that Hutchinson’s recovery timeline is 4-6 months.
A report indicated there’s a chance Hutchinson could be back for the Super Bowl if the Lions reached the game, and head coach Dan Campbell said at the Monday press conference that the team will keep the door open. ‘We move forward, but let me say this. It’s 4-6 months; I would never count Hutch out. Ever.’ Campbell said. ‘Long road, but I would never count him out. If anyone can make it back, it’s him.’
While the team has yet to provide a specific timeline, Campbell isn’t ruling anything out at this point.
‘Aidan Hutchinson underwent successful surgery to repair a fractured tibia and fibula at Baylor White Medical Center in Irving, Texas last night,’ the Lions wrote in a statement shared to the team’s social media accounts. ‘Hutchinson will return to Detroit this week and is expected to make a full recovery. There is no timeline for his return to play at this time.’
The silver lining for Lions fans? Rapoport also reports that Hutchinson ‘should be fine for 2025 based on the initial diagnosis.’
The Lions will monitor Hutchinson’s progress closely and play it safe with a player who was the early 2024 Defensive Player of the Year favorite. In the meantime, Detroit fans can at least circle Week 1 of the 2025 NFL season as a date to watch in Hutchinson’s recovery.
Aidan Hutchinson stats
Hutchinson racked up 7.5 sacks in the five games he played during the 2024 NFL season. That made him the NFL’s sack leader and put him on pace to beat his career-high mark of 11.5, which he set during the 2023 season.
Below is a look at his full stats through five games in 2024:
Tackles: 19
TFL: 7
Sacks: 7.5
Force fumbles: 1
In 39 career games, Hutchinson has 28.5 sacks. The 2022 first-round pick racked up 122 tackles and 30 TFL over his first two-plus seasons in the NFL.
Lions DE depth chart
The Lions are thin at the edge defender position with Hutchinson out of action. They already lost free-agent acquisition Marcus Davenport to a torn triceps and John Cominsky to a torn MCL in the summer, so they are now down three of their top four edge defenders.
At present, the Lions have just three players on their 53-man roster who typically play on the defensive edge, and one hybrid defensive lineman who plays inside and outside. They are as follows:
Levi Onwuzurike
Josh Paschal
Isaac Ukwu
James Houston
The Lions elevated Ukwu from the practice squad for the first time ahead of Week 6. The undrafted rookie played in front of Houston, who was a healthy scratch for the second time in five games this season. Those two figure to join the rotation which will now be headlined by Paschal, a 2022 second-round pick who has three career sacks in 27 games, and Onwuzurike, a 6-3, 304-pound lineman who splits his time at defensive tackle and end.
The Lions figure to shore-up their depth by signing a player from free agency or their practice squad. They have veteran Al-Quadin Muhammad, who has 12 sacks in 84 games (34 starts) on the latter unit along with Mitchell Agude and Cam Gill, two other ends with NFL experience.
Either way, the Lions are merely piecing together a defensive end rotation, as they have been for most of the season. Losing Hutchinson will only make that task more difficult.
