One of the Detroit Lions' biggest standouts early on in the 2024 NFL season is edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson, who is on track to have a career-best showing in his third season.
Hutchinson is already five sacks away from his personal best after tallying 6.5 over the first four games, including a 4.5-sack performance in the Week 2 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Hutchinson failed to add to his sack total in Week 4 against the Seattle Seahawks, but he still managed to be disruptive, totaling a whopping 15 pressures, according to Pro Football Focus. That is the second time this season Hutchinson has broken double-digit pressures in a game (11 in Week 1 vs. Los Angeles Rams).
You probably won't be surprised to find out that Hutchinson leads the NFL in pressures, but you might be surprised to find out how much he's leading by.
Also per Pro Football Focus, Hutchinson has posted 40 pressures over four games, which is 17 more than any other player in the NFL — that's right, 17!. He also leads the league in sacks with 6.5, which is just a half a sack more than the next closest player, Baltimore Ravens linebacker Kyle Van Noy.
Have you had enough of Hutchinson's impressive stats? No? Good, because we've got another: the Michigan product's 35% pass-rush win rate is also tops in the NFL, according to PFF.
At this rate, Hutchinson should be considered one of the favorites for the league's Defensive Player of the Year award, and if he were to win the award, he would be the first players in franchise history to do so.
As good as Hutchinson has been, the Lions still need to find some help opposite him.
That help was supposed to be Marcus Davenport, but the veteran is out for the season with an elbow injury. We expect general manager Brad Holmes to explore whatever options are out there moving forward to give his star pass rusher some help.
