Looking for answers in the lead-up to the draft, Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn decided to watch some more tape of Aidan Hutchinson. But not tape from last season when Hutchinson emerged as one of the best players in the country. Not even tape from the season prior when his NFL Draft stock was starting to climb.
"I went back and watched his freshman tape," said Glenn. "That’s when he was playing 3-technique for the most part."
Watching Hutchinson on the interior of Michigan's defensive line, Glenn saw a player the Lions might have been missing. They knew he could be a force off the edge. But here he was making plays in the trenches. Immediately, Glenn texted Dan Campbell. And texted him, and texted him, and texted him.
"I’m texting Dan like, 'Man, there’s more versatility to this player than we probably give him credit for,'" Glenn said. "So I make a cut-up and show it to him, that he played in that position, and now things are just spinning: man, defensively, how I can use this guy in different situations?"
Glenn figured the Lions would have a shot at Hutchinson with the second overall pick. And he knew what adding a player of his caliber could do for Detroit's defense. So Glenn stayed in Campbell's ear -- or in his texts -- reminding him again and again of Hutchinson's special ability as draft day approached. Sure enough, Glenn and the Lions got their guy.
"He’s been blowing me up," Campbell told Fox 2's Dan Miller shortly after the pick was announced. "He’s been texting me, he’s been all over me. Even before we drafted him, he's like, 'Man, if we get Hutch, I’m telling you what we can do with this guy -- it’ll be unbelievable.' So yeah, we're excited."
Related
Glenn was smiling as soon as he stepped to the podium to address the media Thursday night. In fact, he couldn't stop smiling. He said the Lions deserve Hutchinson, and Hutchinson deserves the Lions. Together, he said, they can make each other great. He called Hutchinson "tough, aggressive, violent," and he nearly spit the last word out of his mouth. There were a number of enticing defensive ends at the top of the draft, three of whom went in the first five picks.
"But the one thing that we thought about Aidan, he’s relentless," said Glenn. "Obviously he can get to the quarterback, plays the run really well and man, he is a Detroit Lion through and through. There is no doubt about that. And that’s why I say we deserve this player and this player deserves us also. It’s just a true fit."
For all of Glenn's campaigning, Campbell and GM Brad Holmes never needed much convincing. They loved Hutchinson, too. Campbell loves his "hair on fire" attitude, the way he plays "all-out all the time." Holmes, like Glenn, loves that he's so much more than a pass rusher. Hutchinson earned the highest overall defensive grade in the country last from PFF, in part because he was one of the best run defenders at his position.
"When you talk about pass rushers you’re always talking about sacks, and he had a lot of them and was very productive as a rusher last year," Holmes said. "But I think what gets lost is how effective he is in the run game. It’s a three-down league and I think what he does in the run game gets overlooked, in a good way because of all the sacks."
If there were questions about Hutchinson during the pre-draft process, they concerned his arm length -- shorter than normal for the ideal defensive end -- and his athletic ceiling. Glenn said "all those questions were answered." And he said Hutchinson's violence makes any perceived shortcomings irrelevant.
"And we haven’t even talked about the character of the player," said Glenn. "That stands out more than anything for who he is and what he’s about, and that’s really icing on the cake of the player. He’s going to come in and change the dynamic of this team just by his presence and the way that he plays. He’s a true fit in every way that we need a player."