D.J. Wonnum further proof of the Hutch Effect for Lions

The first sack of D.J. Wonnum's season is exactly why he's here.

With the Jets facing third down on the cusp of field goal range, Aidan Hutchinson got chipped by the tight end before speed rushing the right tackle, while a blitz by Jack Campbell occupied the running back. That left Wonnum with a 1-on-1 against the left tackle. He won with a long arm and a speed rush of his own, and took down Geno Smith to get the defense off the field.

"He's been very consistent in what we've asked him to do," Dan Campbell said a couple days before the season-opener. "There's nothing flashy about it, but man, he's a crafty, sneaky, smart veteran football player that understands how to play the run, he’s got some slipperiness as a rusher, and I think he's going to complement Hutch very well on the other side."

Five games into the season, Wonnum and Hutchinson have combined for nine sacks. Only one NFL edge-rushing duo has produced more: Will Anderson Jr. and Danielle Hunter of the Texans with 10.5. Wonnum has five to himself, tied for fourth in the NFL with second overall pick David Bailey Jr. of the Jets, and already two more than he had last year in 16 games with the Panthers.

The Hutch Effect is real. We're watching it play out for the second year in a row.

The beneficiary last year was Al-Quadin Muhammad. With Hutchinson frequently drawing extra attention from the offense in the form of chips, slides and double-teams, Muhammad took advantage of a steady dose of 1-on-1 matchups on the other end of the line and exploded for a career-high 11 sacks -- more than he had in his prior three seasons combined. He said he was going to "go where I'm valued" in free agency, and signed a one-year, $4 million deal with the Buccaneers.

The Lions were OK letting him walk. It was nothing personal. But they viewed Muhammad as A) a one-dimensional defensive end who wasn't heavy enough against the run and B) at least partly a product of playing opposite Hutchinson. It appears they were right. Five games into his tenure with Tampa, Muhammad has zero sacks.

To replace Muhammad, the Lions signed Wonnum to a one-year, $3 million deal. It didn't make many headlines. Wonnum had a couple eight-sack seasons early in his career in Minnesota, but he wasn't a household name with the Panthers. He was much stouter against the run than Muhammad, built more like the player the Lions envisioned as Hutchinson's complement in 2024 and 2025: Marcus Davenport.

We know how that turned out. Brad Holmes and the Lions deserved the flak that came their way for twice banking on an oft-injured player to fill an important role in their defense. They also deserve some credit for adding Wonnum. He's this year's beneficiary of the Hutch Effect. His second sack against the Jets was further proof.

On third and long in the red zone, at a pretty key juncture of the game, Hutchinson avoided a chip from the running back, then commanded the attention of the right tackle and right guard, while Alim McNeill took on the center and left guard off the snap. Wonnum had another 1-on-1 with the left tackle. This time he drove him backward with power, then turned the corner and swallowed Smith.

Asked this week about Wonnum, Hutchinson praised him for "taking advantage of those 1-on-1s. I love it, because if I get more attention during the game and he's winning his 1-on-1s, teams might look at that and go, 'Maybe we don't send the slide here every time. Maybe we gotta switch it up.' So to me, it's a win-win all the way around."

Hutchinson can dream. In the meantime, Wonnum can keep reaping the rewards. He had a pass-rush win rate last season, per PFF, of 8.5 percent, 97th among qualified edge rushers. This year he's at a career-high 11.6 percent, which ranks 46th. His win rate in true pass sets (which eliminates noise like screens and quick throws) is 16.9 percent. On a front featuring Hutchinson and McNeill, that will work.

Muhammad's win rate in true pass sets last season was 20 percent, a career high. He's down to 17.2 percent this season, one spot ahead of Wonnum. The metrics indicate Muhammad has played pretty well for the Bucs -- his overall win rate is actually up from last season -- but the sack numbers reflect a much different environment. Muhammad is rushing most often opposite YaYa Diaby (13.5 percent true pass set win rate) and rookie Rueben Bain Jr. (8.0 percent). The trio has no sacks.

Hutchinson's 33 percent win rate in true pass sets leads the NFL.

We'll never know for sure, but Kelvin Sheppard might've been coaching for his job last week. When Jacoby Brissett led the Cardinals straight down the field on their first drive of the game, it was fair to wonder if Sheppard was making it back to Detroit. Then the secondary stiffened as the Lions reverted to more man coverage, and the defensive line kept going to work. For all their struggles in the backend this season, the Lions have been one of the best teams in the NFL at pressuring the quarterback while rushing four.

On 3rd and 1 in the second quarter, Hutchinson drew the left tackle and the left guard and nearly drove both of them into Brissett's lap. Thanks to tight coverage, Wonnum was eventually able to shed the right tackle in a 1-on-1 and chase down Brissett for the sack. It was the fifth straight three-and-out for Detroit's defense, as many as it had forced in the first four games of the season.

On second and long on the Cardinals' next drive, Hutchinson got chipped by the tight end on the right edge before looping inside to the left. This time it was McNeill occupying a double team from the center and the right guard. With -- guess what! -- a 1-on-1 against a rookie left tackle making his first NFL start, Wonnum bent the edge and dropped Brissett.

In a bit of a surprise, Wonnum is playing more against the pass and much less against the run than last season. In fact, he's never played so little against the run in his career. Tyler Lacy has taken the bulk of the big-end snaps on clear rushing downs across from Hutchinson. Meanwhile, Wonnum's hot start as a pass-rusher has helped offset a slow start for second-round pick Derrick Moore, who has just two tackles on the season. He did show up a bit more last week in Arizona.

Between Hutchinson and McNeill, the Lions have two defensive linemen who consistently tax an offense. On passing downs, at least one of them typically draws extra attention. That wasn't the case last year with McNeill coming off a torn ACL. No. 54 was out there, but he wasn't himself. His return to form is a game-changer for Detroit's front.

Hutchinson, Wonnum and McNeill have combined for 12.5 sacks, tied for the most of any NFL trio with Anderson, Hunter and Sheldon Rankins of the Texans. It does help the counting stats that the Lions have had the most pass-rushing opportunities in the league, with teams throwing against them more than 40 times a game.

But the defensive line has stepped up in a big way. Just imagine if they had a secondary to consistently make it count.

Hutchinson and McNeill draw most of the headlines up front, as you'd expect for a pair of franchise pillars who rank among the highest-paid players at their respective positions. In a room that also features last year's first-round pick Tyleik Williams and breakout rookie Skyler Gill-Howard, it feels like Wonnum is becoming the unheralded hero.

At least on the outside.

"We notice him in this building," Campbell said Monday after the Lions' best defensive performance of the season. "We know exactly what he is, and he’s playing at a high level. I thought he really bounced back from last week in Carolina and played really well in the run and certainly the pass game. He’s creating issues opposite of Hutch. And man, he keeps doing that, with the firepower we have on that D-line, and you become very dangerous."