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By Aaron Becker
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The Detroit Lions have Super Bowl aspirations in 2026, and for them to accomplish that feat, they will need all of their players to be at the top of their games. Luckily, that's exactly what Lions head coach Dan Campbell expects from one of the team's most important players.
Campbell predicts fifth-year edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson will continue building off his 2024 campaign, now another year removed from the broken leg injury that ended his 2024 season.
“I think he’s in a really good spot right now,” Campbell said via Myles Simmons of Pro Football Talk. “I think he’s always been, in my opinion, a complete defensive end, and he’s elevated that once again. I think last year, what he was able to do coming off the injury he had was impressive. I mean, it was impressive because that’s a significant injury. The good news is it was a bone, but that’s not like the fibula, the small bone on the ankle, all that — this is a significant injury. And for him to be able to come back as quick as he did and be able to have the impact he did was impressive.
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“Well, he just got another year of a full offseason training, just man, the quickness, the weight, the explosion — he’s always continued to grow his craft. And so, I think he’s prepped to have another big year.”
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Hutchinson, 26, already shocked the football world last season, when he recorded a career-high 54 tackles, 14.5 sacks, four forced fumbles, one fumble recovery, three passes defensed and one interception.
So much so that he earned his second Pro Bowl selection, was an AP second-team All-Pro and finished No. 2 in the AP Comeback Player of the Year voting.
If Hutchinson can take his game to another level this season, the Lions should, without a doubt, be back in the playoff mix and maybe even establish themselves as true Super Bowl contenders once again.
The No. 2 overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, Hutchinson has 176 tackles, 43 sacks, eight forced fumbles, five fumble recoveries, 13 passes defensed and five interceptions in his professional career.
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