About six months ago, Aidan Hutchinson shattered his leg. It was a brutal moment. Because you don't want to see that happen to any human being. But also, Hutchinson is one of the bright young defensive stars in the game, and it was natural to wonder what the Detroit Lions' season (especially the postseason) would have looked like with him still on the roster? Would the Lions have lost to the Washington Commanders in the divisional round? Would they have made the Super Bowl?
We'll of course never know, but that's how good Hutchinson has been in the NFL. That's the kind of impact Hutchinson has had. He had 9½ sacks as a rookie in 2022, 11½ sacks in 2023, and last season he led the league in sacks with 6½ before his injury. Hutchinson is a force. A defensive storm. He's a fairly unique talent.
When Hutchinson originally broke his leg, the team was devastated.
“It’s tough,” Lions defensive tackle DJ Reader said then. “Especially for someone who’s been there before. Not necessarily that injury, but you’ve been on your back with your eyes looking at the ceiling. You kind of get emotional, because you know what it takes. You don’t know what kind of fight you’re in for.
“But I know as team, (shoot), it’s been our whole lives. Like we can go out to practice and people get injured. In games, it happens. So, it’s one of those things you can click back in. I think there’s a time to be human during the game. So, we understand how to be human, then process it and get back to what we need to do.”
The human part ... more on that in a moment.
Hutchinson since then has been steadily rehabbing. There was video from February of Hutchinson rehabilitating about four months after the injury:
Aidan Hutchinson running video
— Jimmy Liao MD | Detroit Lions Morning Rounds (@JimmyLiaoMD) February 17, 2025
-4mo post tib/fib Oct 13
-Form clunky but was never expected to be fully recovered by now. Typical full recovery 6+ mo.
-Still might have played SB in limited fashion
-Will look much better in 2mo for OTA and ready by camp pic.twitter.com/lhNhSMVQzU
Then came video this week of Hutchinson six months post-injury and it was, well, stunning:
Aidan Hutchinson tib/fib rehab video
— Jimmy Liao MD | Detroit Lions Morning Rounds (@JimmyLiaoMD) April 4, 2025
-6mo post
-Clunky running is gone. Now looking real good 👍 with lateral cutting motions. Should be full go this offseasonpic.twitter.com/ibiMTH2zre
I'll leave the mechanics of injury rehab to the experts, thank you very much. I want to talk about the human component of this.
So many times we think of NFL players as drones. We still don't see them as human beings as much as we should. We don't realize ...
