NFL Draft: Detroit Lions take Aidan Hutchinson with no. 2 overall pick

The Detroit Lions selected Michigan defensive end, Aidan Hutchinson, with the second overall pick in the NFL draft on Thursday night.

Aidan Hutchinson is staying home.

The Detroit Lions picked the #Michigan star at No. 2 overall in the #NFLdraft https://t.co/2l0WH1Xw65

— Isaiah Hole (@isaiahhole) April 29, 2022

Even while casually dipping in and out of restaurants near the team’s practice facility, Lions general manager Brad Holmes said he couldn’t escape the chatter of fans pressuring him to pick Hutchinson this past season.

Hutchinson played defensive end, tight end, offensive lineman, and long-snapper at Divine Child High School in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, before going on to play All-America football at Michigan and being named a Heisman Trophy finalist in 2021. He was born in Plymouth, about 30 miles south of Ford Field.

“I don’t feel a whole lot of pressure,” said Hutchinson, who is the highest-drafted defensive player in Michigan history. “It’s great to come back to home.”

After finishing 3-13-1 and ranked 31st in opponents’ points per game (27.5) previous season, the Lions are in desperate need of a game-changer. They’ve finished in the bottom five in pressure percentage in each of the last six seasons, according to ESPN Stats & Information analysis. They were 29th in pressure percentage and 30th in sacks last season.

Hutchinson set the Michigan single-season sack record with 14 in 2021, surpassing David Bowens (1996) and LaMarr Woodley (2006), who each had 12 sacks. Hutchinson put pressure on 16 percent of opposition quarterbacks’ dropbacks in 2021, which was the seventh-highest rate in the FBS.

Hutchinson is a true Michigan native. Chris, his father, was a former Wolverine team captain who played defensive tackle and outside linebacker for the team from 1989 to 1992. Melissa, his mother, as well as his sisters Mia and Aria, both of whom graduated from Michigan, were also students there.

This is the first time since 1972 that defensive ends have gone with the first two picks, with Georgia’s Travon Walker going first overall to the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Hutchinson was the consensus pick to go No. 1 to the Jaguars up until the start of this week.

“It seemed like things started changing a couple days ago,” Hutchinson said, “but I’m grateful to be where I’m at.”

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