At the time of his season-ending broken leg in Week 6 of this past season against the Dallas Cowboys, Detroit Lions defensive end Aidan Hutchinson had 7.5 sacks. Accounting for the team's Week 5 bye, he had that total in less than five full games. It also stood as the team high for the season.
Even if he had fallen a little bit off that torrid pace to start the season (a 25.5-sack pace that would have set the new NFL single-season record, by the way), Hutchinson would have been a top candidate for Defensive Player of the Year had he been healthy all season. Denver Broncos cornerback Patrick Surtain II wound up winning the award, so let's just say Hutchinson likely would have won had he played all 17 games and produced anywhere close to early his early-season sack pace.
By all indications, albeit only from Hutchinson himself one way or another up to this point, he will be fully healthy soon and ready to go in plenty of time for the start of the 2025 season. And the easy expectation is that he'll pretty much get right back to being the force he has been since he arrived to the Lions as the second overall pick in the 2022 draft.
Early 2025 DPOY odds for Aidan Hutchinson are right where they should be
Of course with the end of an NFL season we quickly get early odds on some things for the next season. The Lions are among the top favorites to win Super Bowl LX.
According to DraftKings Sportsbook (odds subject to change), Hutchinson is the early favorite to win 2025 Defensive Player of the Year at +700. T.J. Watt (+750), Myles Garrett (+800) and Micah Parsons (+850) are next, followed by Maxx Crosby and Will Anderson Jr. (+1200). Lions safeties Kerby Joseph and Brian Branch both come in among a large cluster of players at +7500.
It has to be pretty rare for a player coming off a major injury to be the favorite for an award that's not Comeback Player of the Year. But Hutchinson is a rare talent, and he was on a rare pace before his 2024 season was ended. So his being the early favorite for 2025 Defensive Player of the Year makes perfect sense.
