The Lions are signing edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson to a four-year contract extension, as reported by NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport and confirmed by Hutchinson’s agent, Mike McCartney. The deal is now official, per a team announcement.
The deal is worth $180MM in total ($45MM AAV), according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, making Hutchinson the second-highest-paid non-quarterback in the NFL behind Micah Parsons. Hutchinson’s $141MM total guarantee is the most of any non-quarterback in league history.
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There is little doubt that Hutchinson is worth such a massive extension. The 2022 No. 2 pick burst onto the scene with 9.5 sacks and a second-place finish in Defensive Rookie of the Year voting. He took a second-year leap with 11.5 sacks and 14 tackles for loss and appeared to be the leading Defensive Player of the Year candidate in 2024 with 7.5 sacks and seven tackles for loss in his first five games before a season-ending leg fracture.
Upon returning to the field this year, the 25-year-old picked up right where he left off. Hutchinson has six sacks and six tackles for loss in his first seven games with a league-high four forced fumbles, making it clear that his injury has not affected his game in the slightest. That was probably all the Lions needed to confirm before signing him to the second-largest contract in franchise history.
Hutchinson’s extension is only the latest investment that Detroit has made in their roster. Since April 2024, they have doled out $968.5MM in contract extensions to nine core players, including Jared Goff, Penei Sewell, and Amon-Ra St. Brown, according to Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press. Almost all of those players were acquired by general manager Brad Holmes after he was hired in 2021.
Holmes traded for Goff and drafted Sewell and St. Brown that offseason, but the Lions still finished last in the NFC North for the fourth season in a row. That put Detroit in position to draft Hutchinson, a Michigan native and former Wolverine, a moment that marked a clear turning point for the franchise. Since then, they have gone 41-17 and won the division in two of the last three seasons.
While Holmes and head coach Dan Campbell have patiently, carefully built the Lions into a perennial championship contender, Hutchinson’s ascendance into one of the best defenders in the league has given them a game-wrecking element that no amount of coaching or front office maneuvering can develop. He is virtually unblockable in 1-on-1 matchups and has developed an excellent feel for punching the ball out to force momentum-shifting turnovers.
Hutchinson led the NFL with 62 QB pressures in 2023 — 12 more than anyone else — has 34.5 career sacks. He still managed to lead the Lions with 7.5 sacks despite only finishing four games in 2024. The standout edge rusher is already at six this season, having forced four fumbles in Detroit’s first seven games.
Although the Lions being upset in the divisional round — due largely to an injury-battered defense — prevented a scenario in which Hutchinson returned for a potential Super Bowl berth, he has proven this season he is fully recovered from the broken leg. Though, he received clearance several months ago. Showing pre-injury form in games moved him into position for serious negotiations — which had been rumored here for a while.
As of early August, however, no substantive Hutchinson talks had started. It then became clear, despite the Parsons blockbuster, no deal would be agreed to before Week 1. But word emerged by October both camps were agreeable regarding a potential in-season extension. A year after the Lions paid fellow pass rusher Alim McNeill in-season, they are betting big on Hutchinson.
That gives Detroit some important cost certainty, though the team’s extension count is rising. That doubles as a good problem for Holmes and Co., as the roster was short on extension candidates when this regime arrived four-plus years ago. More work will lie ahead for Holmes, who has 2023 draftees Jahmyr Gibbs, Sam LaPorta and Brian Branch becoming extension-eligible in 2026. Of those players, only Gibbs can be retained via a fifth-year option.
Hutchinson entered today in the fourth year of his rookie contract. Because the Lions picked up his $19.9MM option for 2026 earlier this year, this new deal will tie him to Detroit though 2030.
