Allen Park — If you ask Aidan Hutchinson, Derrick Moore isn’t like most rookies.
He’s a quiet rookie — which Hutchinson, who’s entering his fifth NFL season and has aspirations to be Defensive Player of the Year, appreciates.
The Detroit Lions added Moore from Michigan with a second-round pick in April and signed veterans DJ Wonnum and Payton Turner in free agency while parting ways with Marcus Davenport and Josh Paschal, hoping to fix what was a roster deficiency for multiple seasons. After an offseason of reshaping the defensive end room in Detroit, all signs point to the new corps “jelling early,” Hutchinson, 25, said.
“I feel like Derrick, DJ, Payton, all those guys, we’ve been jelling early, which is good to see,” Hutchinson said after an OTA practice in Allen Park. “Derrick’s like a quieter rookie, which I appreciate. It’s nice to have someone who, you know he’s about the work, you know what he’s gonna come out and do every day. So I really appreciate the way that he’s worked.
“DJ, obviously, a vet, he’s been great. We’ve been trying to build the connection. As edge rushers, you gotta feel each other out a little bit and see what the vibe is, and it’s been great.”
Though they didn’t cross paths during their playing days in Ann Arbor — Moore arrived on campus the same year Hutchinson was drafted by the Lions in 2022 — their Maize and Blue ties already have brought the two together outside of their normal workplace. Hutchinson said he worked out with Moore at Schembechler Hall before OTAs and got a preview of what the first-year edge defender is all about.
“It was fun,” Hutchinson said. “Just talking pass rush, seeing his mentality, my mentality, how they differ and how they may complement each other and that stuff.”
In an ideal world, the Lions’ new additions will be able to capitalize on the attention Hutchinson receives and also draw defenses to them, creating opportunities for Hutchinson. But an underrated aspect of the Lions’ rebuilt edge group — again, in an ideal world — is the possibility Hutchinson will be able to take some plays off earlier in the game and save his best for last, when the team needs a big stop in the fourth quarter.
In his first year back from a broken leg, Hutchinson played the most regular-season snaps (1,005, per Pro Football Focus) by an edge defender last season — and it wasn’t even really close.
Las Vegas Raiders edge Maxx Crosby (935) was second, and Myles Garrett, the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, was third (869). In the same number of games, Garrett played just 86.4% of the snaps that Hutchinson did.
Hutchinson, the No. 2 pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, led the league in pressures, per Next Gen Stats (NGS) and finished fourth in sacks (14 1/2).
“It’s a fine line,” Hutchinson said when asked if he’d like to get more breaks throughout a game. “Overtime, I’m not coming out. Fourth quarter, I’m not really coming out. So … toward the end of the season last year, we started being more deliberate about, ‘Hey, I’m gonna take these first two plays off of this drive.’ I did feel it in the fourth quarter. It really helps.”
The numbers back that up: According to Next Gen Stats, Hutchinson led the league in fourth-quarter pressure rate at a whopping 28.2%. In fact, 40 of the 89 pressures that NGS marked for Hutchinson in 2025 took place in the fourth quarter.
Entering his fifth season, he feels like the broken leg is now fully behind him. More than anything, he seems pumped to no longer talk about it — to no longer contextualize the present day with the worst moment of his professional life, one viewed in high definition by millions of people worldwide.
That saga spilled into last offseason, when Hutchinson became eligible for his second contract. He wound up inking a four-year, $180 million deal with $141 million in guarantees in October.
“We’re two years out about … so it’s really, it’s passed,” Hutchinson said. “I think I’m really happy with last year (personally), with what I did. There was a lot going on, whether that be the contract, whether that be expectations from people seeing me break my leg, there was a lot of stuff that happened last year that people were waiting (on).
“To have the production that I had, I’m really happy with how last year went, and I think this year, I got to have a full offseason to train and get my body right, and mentally, be at tip-top shape.”
Asked about his desire to compete for Defensive Player of the Year, Hutchinson said, “The mentality is always that.”
If his new teammates can help him reach that goal, that would bode well for a Lions’ defense that’s been trying to turn the tide for multiple seasons.
nbianchi@detroitnews.com
@nolanbianchi
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Aidan Hutchinson ‘jelling early’ with new Lions edge defenders
Reporting by Nolan Bianchi, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
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By Nolan Bianchi, The Detroit News | USA TODAY Network
