Notes: What Makes Aidan Hutchinson Excel?

What makes Aidan Hutchinson so successful?

Detroit Lions defensive lineman Aidan Hutchinson. / Eric Seals / USA TODAY NETWORK

The Detroit Lions have one of the NFL's elite EDGE rushers in third-year defender Aidan Hutchinson.

Last season, Hutchinson emerged as a dominant force from a pressure perspective. He managed 11.5 sacks and over 100 pressures, providing a big chunk of the team's production in this area as the team finished in the bottom half of the league in sacks.

Brett Kollmann, host of Bootleg Football and The Film Room, conducted a deep dive on what makes Hutchinson so successful in a recent video essay on his YouTube channel. In the video, Kollmann used clips of games from 2023 to explore how Hutchinson works with strength and power to allow himself to beat offensive linemen.

"Typically, an elite pass-rusher is going to account for 25-to-30 percent of the total pressure count for his team's defensive line, including both their EDGE rushers and their interior rushers," Kollmann explained. "But, Hutchinson was all the way up at 38.2 percent. That's a massive, massive number."

Kollmann also analyzes how Hutchinson attacks offensive linemen, plus makes comparisons to players who have had similar play styles in the past, such as Dwight Freeney.

"We're not just talking about one of the most durable defensive linemen in the NFL," Kollmann said. "We're also talking about one of the most efficient, one of the most explosive and one of the most versatile as well."

Here are other headlines surrounding the Lions ahead of their second preseason game.

1.) Sports Illustrated ranked the Lions' alternate helmet, along with all the newly unveiled lids that NFL teams will don this upcoming season.

2.) Detroit Football Network explores the transition that Sione Vaki is making to the running back position and all that comes along with such a change.

3.) Detroit News columnist John Niyo profiled Parker Hesse as part of a larger story on the players residing on the Lions' roster bubble as the end of training camp nears.

4.) In a piece listing one trade candidate on each NFL team, Bleacher Report suggested veteran running back Craig Reynolds as a name for the Lions to shop on the trade market.