Despite Aidan Hutchinson returning to Allen Park this summer and looking every bit like the player that garnered Defensive Player of the Year attention early last season, talks of a contract extension between the two sides haven’t provided for “any intense talks yet,” according to Detroit Lions general manager Brad Holmes.
“Look, we’ll definitely get some dialogue going soon here, but all those things take time, especially the larger the deal is,” Holmes said during his Wednesday appearance on 97.1 The Ticket’s ‘Costa and Jansen with Heather.’
And that deal has certainly gotten larger since we last heard Holmes talk about a potential contract for Hutchinson. Back in February of this year at the NFL Combine, Holmes mentioned the Lions were firmly in the “planning stages” for an extension with the star defensive end. Since then, other franchise edge rushers like Maxx Crosby (three years, $106.5 million), Myles Garrett (four years, $160 million), and T.J. Watt (three years, $123 million) have penned mega extensions and continued to reset the market for the position.
Prior to training camp, there was room for concern with handing over a massive sum of money for the player who suffered a fractured tibia and fibula just 10 months prior. But for Holmes, someone who has been paying close attention to the way Hutchinson has rebounded from injuries going back to his collegiate career, it wasn’t much of a shock.
“As the player, he’s [Hutchinson] looked great,” Holmes said. “I’m really not all that surprised just because of tracking him since college, since his early days at Michigan, he had that big injury (fractured ankle) at Michigan, and he came back, I think nobody would argue, a better player. I don’t want to say it’s exactly the same because the games haven’t kicked off yet, but what he’s showing in practice, the change of direction, the explosiveness, I mean, he’s not (showing) any effects. But I’m not surprised when a guy like him has that kind of mindset.”
With Hutchinson healthy and trending toward another impactful season, it feels like only a matter of time before both sides come to the table.
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