Derrick Moore didn’t get a chance to play with Aidan Hutchinson at Michigan, but the Detroit Lions’ newest pass rusher is looking forward to teaming up with a player he’s admired for a long time.
“Oh man, I’m going to be honest with you, that was one right there that I’m definitely excited about to play with Hutch,” Moore said. “I watched Hutch my whole entire freshman year, even my sophomore year. I just, everything was pretty much dedicated to trying to break his sack record and I wasn’t able to do it but I got close. But I’m definitely excited to be playing next to Hutch and hopefully I can learn a lot from him and just we can go out and just cause a lot of havoc.”
The Lions traded up six spots to take Moore with the 44th overall pick in the second round of the NFL draft on Friday, April 24.
He joins Hutchinson as the likely final piece of an edge rush rotation that also includes free-agent addition DJ Wonnum and big end Levi Onwuzurike.
Moore, 23, played the 2022-25 seasons at Michigan, where he was a two-year starter and key backup on the Wolverines’ 2023 national championship team.
He had 21 career sacks, including a career-high 10 last year, and is the Lions’ highest-drafted defensive end since they took Hutchinson No. 2 overall in the 2022 draft.
Hutchinson set Michigan’s single-season record with 14 sacks in 2021 and has led the Lions in the category in each of the past four years.
Moore said his powerful pass-rushing style “can do a lot” to create more opportunities for a Lions defense that tied for fourth in the NFL with 49 sacks last season but sometimes struggled when Hutchinson wasn’t on the field.
“Especially for a guy like Hutch,” Moore said. “Whatever way that we can help each other, he can help me, I can help him. Even the interior guys, it’s definitely going to help a lot just pushing the pocket and everybody getting just home.”
A Baltimore native, Moore said he and others at his draft party were bracing for the Baltimore Ravens to take him when the Lions traded up in front of the Ravens’ pick at No. 45.
“I got the call and it’s kind of crazy, it was kind of funny at first I was like looking at my phone like, ‘Man, I know somebody’s not calling my phone,’” Moore said. “GM Brad Holmes, he called me. He was like, ‘Derrick, what up man? He was like, ‘This is Brad Holmes.’ I was just like, ‘What’s up my guy?’
“He started laughing, we started laughing and he asked me right away, he was like, ‘You ready to be a Detroit Lion?’ And I said, ‘Hell yeah.’ I’m definitely excited about it and I’m definitely glad to be staying home, I feel like Detroit is my second home.”
Holmes said Moore was the Lions’ top-rated edge rusher still on the board entering Friday, and after a run of defensive players whittled the Lions’ preferred second-round options to one, they sent their second of two fourth-round picks (No. 128 overall) to the New York Jets to go up and get him.
Fellow defensive players T.J. Parker (No. 35), Kayden McDonald (No. 36), Treydan Stukes (No. 38), R Mason Thomas (No. 40), Cashius Howell (No. 41), Christen Miller (No. 42) and Jacob Rodriguez (No. 43) went in the first 11 picks Friday.
“He’s a physical player that he can set hard edges,” Holmes said. “His pass rush greatly improved and when I look at Derrick it’s [similar to first-round pick Blake Miller] in terms of been watching him for a long time and have always felt the length and the physicality and the power in the past, but didn’t really feel like his rush was quite there yet but this year he really got better.”
Holmes said Moore helped his draft stock with a strong week at the Senior Bowl when he showed “he’s a real pass rusher” against top competition.
And he said he expects Moore to continue his upward trajectory in the NFL.
“I don’t see why that’s going to stop in this ecosystem,” he said. “So really, really excited cause it’s hard to find guys that, I’m not going to say we’re picky but we just have a certain type [edge rusher] that we like and he fits those boxes.”
Dave Birkett covers the Lions for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Bluesky, X and Instagram at @davebirkett.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: New Lions DE Derrick Moore ‘excited’ to play with Aidan Hutchinson
Reporting by Dave Birkett, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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