When it comes to Aidan Hutchinson, the thinking has always been that the Detroit Lions have needed a bookend opposite their Pro Bowl defensive end.
You can almost think of it as a vise. One elite pass rusher on one side and his mirror on the other, as both blow past offensive tackles and close in on the poor quarterback who’s about to get crushed like an empty soda can.
And yes, that’s probably still the hope in Allen Park, where general manager Brad Holmes made his typically assertive second-round move by climbing four spots to select Michigan football edge rusher Derrick Moore with the No. 44 pick of the 2026 NFL Draft on Friday, April 24.
But there’s something else that Moore’s addition can do to help the Lions’ pass rush – he can take some wear and tear off Hutchinson along with absorbing some of the production load.
Last season, Hutchinson played 1,005 defensive snaps. Only linebacker Jack Campbell played more snaps on defense for the Lions. No other edge rusher was remotely close to playing as much as Hutchinson, with Al-Quadin Muhammad coming in second with 457 snaps.
“You know, Hutch takes a lot of snaps, man,” Holmes said. “You know, so just to have another body that literally can spell Hutch in that rush rotation when you line up in nickel and sub defense, a guy that can line up on the opposite, a guy that can line up inside.
“You know, [defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard is] just going to put the guys in the best position to what they do best. And so that’s what he showed on tape is, he can set the edge in the run game. He can rush outside. He can rush inside.”
Hutchinson is very much still in his prime. He doesn’t turn 26 until August. But players who take as many snaps as he did last season sometimes age faster than they should.
One of the ways Moore will be able to help Hutchinson is by simply staying on the field on run downs. After racking up 10 sacks last season with the Wolverines, his ability to get to the quarterback is his calling card – and it’s a great skill to have. But he’ll have to take another step to become a consistently excellent run defender and stay on the field all three downs.
Luckily, Moore is known for his football passion – though at this point, that’s simply table stakes for all Lions draft picks – but also his eagerness to improve.
“Yeah,” Moore said during a conference call with reporters Friday night, “that’s something right there going into my first year, really going into my first practice, first anything, first camp, I definitely just want to prove that I really take a lot of pride in my run game.
“I feel like a lot of people cut me down in that, but that’s something I really take a lot of pride in. So just this whole entire offseason going to work a lot into that so when the season comes. I’m just a full-around edge player, not just only pass rusher but edge, run stopper, set edges, get in the backfield, everything.”
Now let’s be real for a second. Being an all-around defender is great. But elite pass rushers who consistently pressure the quarterback are unicorns who sell tickets and get paid accordingly.
And the Lions lost one such unicorn in free agency when Muhammad scampered off to greener pastures in Tampa this offseason after he turned in a whopping 11 sacks last season – second on the roster to only Hutchinson’s 14½ and a long way from Jack Campbell’s third-most total of five.
Some folks might not have liked the Lions letting Muhammad walk for a one-year deal for up to $6 million. But the reason the Lions let him walk, and the reason he got a “prove it” deal from the Bucs, was that last season was an anomaly: his only season with more than six sacks, and it came at age 30.
It would be unreasonable to expect Moore to immediately match Muhammad’s production as a rookie. Even Hutchinson only had 9½ sacks as a rookie, but he was the No. 2 overall pick in 2022 for a reason.
“Yeah, look, he just needs to come in and be who he is, you know?” Holmes said. “That’s not the reason why we drafted him is that like he has to replace Q’s production. And no, it’s not that. Like if he does, great. But that’s not why we drafted him.
“We do expect that he can become that player, to meet that kind of production in time. But that’s not why we drafted them. But I will say him coming on board, he’s going to add to just the overall production of our defense, just adding more sacks and pressure getting to the quarter.”
As infatuating as double-digit sacks are from a single player, Holmes is right about it being a holistic effort. I knew Hutchinson and Muhammad had a great season of production, but I was surprised to realize the Lions finished with 49 sacks, which tied for fourth in the NFL.
Pressure on the quarterback is basically everything on defense. It’s why the Lions’ defense finished 2024 ranked 20th overall on defense and 30th in passing yards (when their 37 sacks tied for 23rd most), and in 2025 finished 18th overall on defense and 20th in passing yards.
Maybe not giant leaps, but improvement nonetheless. In time we’ll find out if Moore can make a big jump of his own. For now, the Lions at least took a step in the right direction by filling a big hole and giving Hutchinson some much-needed help.
Contact Carlos Monarrez at cmonarrez@freepress.com and follow him on X @cmonarrez.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Derrick Moore has important role to play with Detroit Lions
Reporting by Carlos Monarrez, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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