Aidan Hutchinson's spot on new ESPN rankings proves NFL is sleeping on Lions again

Everyone gets themselves pumped up and ready for a new season of NFL football in different ways. Some people rewatch old tape, or peruse through highlight reels from last season. Others (the smart ones) take a 10-day vacation in the middle of August and don't think about football for one second of it. The real sickos buy tickets to training camp. Like I said, to each their own.

One slightly-masochistic way to get yourself pumped for football season is taking pre-season ranking lists personally. In just a few weeks you're going to have to start getting mad about Lions Slander On The Internet basically every day for seven months, so really, what's a 10-day head start? ESPN's latest – a long list of anonymous team executive, coaches, and scouts all deciding who the best pass rushers in the league are – is a wonderful place to start, because they had Aidan Hutchinson ranked seventh.

The NFL apparently thinks there are six pass rushers better than Aidan Hutchinson

"Often, a serious injury can move an elite player out of a top 10. Not the case with Hutchinson, who sustained his momentum despite missing 12 games because of a broken leg.

The five games he did play were phenomenal, with Hutchinson leading the NFL in sacks, pressures and win rate. His 7.5 sacks through the first five games of a season were the most for a Lions defender since William Gay in 1982. 'He was on his way to the top three [with Garrett and Watt],' an NFC executive said. Hutchinson's 35.0% pass rush win rate was tops by a wide margin.

The next closest, Danielle Hunter, finished nearly nine points below him, though Hunter produced his number over a full season. And Hutchinson was on pace for 48 incompletions created. Added an AFC executive: 'I thought he would have been a finalist for [Defensive Player of the Year] last season if he hadn't gotten hurt. Rare motor, exceptional length, great combination of athleticism and power.'"

It's not that seventh is too low – although I'd argue that seventh is too low – but more-so the fact that this is a great place to start your year-long anger about how the NFL is once again sleeping on the Lions.

This is the perfect training wheel content for the upcoming season: it's not too dramatic, but it's subjective enough to feel some real anger about, deep in your bones. The Lions are *definitely* going to roll with a Nobody Believes In Us Anymore narrative this season, so might as well try and beat them to the punch.

Nobody believes in the Lions! Nobody believes in Aidan Hutchinson! There's probably a reason why all those execs, scouts, and coaches stayed anonymous! (How am I doing so far?)