The return of star defensive end Aidan Hutchinson is highly anticipated among supporters, his teammates and among the Detroit Lions coaching staff.
In a recent CBS Sports list compiled of one reason for optimism for each NFL team, the return of a potential Defensive Player of the Year Candidate was listed for Dan Campbell's squad this upcoming season.
"One of the key storylines for the Lions entering 2025 will be how they deal with the blow of losing both coordinators to head coaching jobs this offseason. While that'll certainly be an adjustment, Detroit still has one of the most talented
In Week 6 of the Detroit Lions season, they lost one of thier very best players to gruseome injury. Aidan Hutchinson broke his leg that day and it's so tough to watch that I don't blame anyone if they don't watch that moment again.
Initially, there was some hope that if the Lions were to make the Super Bowl, maybe Hutchinson could be back. That might have been all that ever was, just hope.
Since the injury, Hutchinson has sort of taken Lions fans on a ride with him through his recovery. He's posted videos along the way, and fans get to see where he is. We just got a new video from him last week.
Looks like he's getting back into shape and is expected to be back with the Lions at training camp. That's about all I can say because I'm not a doctor. But that hasn't stopped a lot of outlets from writing about their thoughts on how Hutchinson looks, and it seems like a lot of negativity is being put out there on purpose to rage-bait Lions fans.
One outlet that was once very well respected used the opinion of Dov Klieman as its source for why there are concerns about the Lions' edge rusher's leg. This is the tweet they used.
That's it. An entire article based on that tweet. Klieman has absolutely no inside sources, is blocked by pretty much every reporter alive since he steals from all of us, and isn't even a real person. It's believed that someone bought his Twitter account just to use to make money.
Another outlet didn't use a source for anything. They titled their article based on the words of just some guy on Twitter. The first word of their article is "That leg is fried." An incredibly misleading title. '
Lastly, there seems to be an overreliance on guys who are Twitter doctors. We often see these guys on there who watch the video of the injury and make a diagnosis. We've also seen these guys make diagnoses based on the video that Hutchinson just shared and because of those tweets, now there's people thinking Hutchinson isn't going to be ready to go Week 1.
I get that fans are looking for any kind of insight they can get, but we don't know if these guys are actually doctors, and if they are, we don't know if they specialize in the injury that Hutchinson has.
On top of that, we know that these doctors have not treated Hutchinson. They haven't looked over his injury, they didn't do his surgery, they haven't prescribed him anything, they haven't overseen his rehab, looked at his X-rays, his chart, or anything. They're making an educated guess based on a 30-second video that they weren't even in the building to see filmed.
At the end of the day, it's cool to get a tiny bit of insight into how the injury works, but every person is different and every injury is different.
The best thing that Lions fans can do right now is listen to Hutchinson and listen to the team. Those are the only places that you're going to get real updates on him.
in the entire NFL and was the No. 1 seed a season ago.," writes Tyler Sullivan. "They did that without star pass rusher Aidan Hutchinson, whose season was cut short due to a fractured tibia and fibula in Week 6."
Detroit's defensive line will now be monitored by Kacy Rodgers, the team's new defensive line coach.
It is expected new defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard will be able to step in for Aaron Glenn, who departed this offseason to become the new coach of the New York Jets.
If the 24-year-old is able to quickly return to form, Detroit has the potential to field a formidable defense that can remain attacking and stifling against opposing offenses.
As Sullivan explained, "Before going down, Hutchinson had piled up 7.5 sacks through five games. If he returns to form and remains that type of impact player off the edge, the Lions will continue to push for a Super Bowl berth."
