Lions defensive end Aidan Hutchinson jumped 25 spots in the most recent player-voted NFL Top 100 ranking. A second-team All-Pro pass rusher in 2025, Hutchinson moved up from No. 55 to No. 30 after posting 14.5 sacks and a league-best 89 pressures in his first season since his devastating leg injury.
Hutchinson finished last year with 54 tackles and 14 tackles for loss, along with four forced fumbles and an interception. The No. 2 overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft notched a career-high 35 quarterback hits. Hutchinson's production earned him a Pro Bowl invitation and recognition as a Defensive Player of the Year finalist.
Aidan Hutchinson has been dominant 😤#NFLTop100 | #OnePride pic.twitter.com/sAGPFjmSzu
— NFL+ (@NFLPlus) August 10, 2026
Here's what NFL.com's Jeremy Bergman wrote
about Hutchinson's No. 30 ranking:
Hutchinson's career year came at the perfect time. Fresh off signing a mega-extension, with a record $141 million guaranteed, the Lions star proved his worth. Hutch set career highs in sacks, QB hits and forced fumbles, fighting off constant chip blocks to log a league-best 89 QB pressures. That he did all this coming off a season-ending leg injury made Hutchinson's 2025 campaign all the more impressive; he just missed out on Comeback Player of the Year honors, but made his second Pro Bowl, earned his first second-team All-Pro accolade and ranked as a Defensive Player of the Year finalist. With a fully healthy offseason under his belt, there's no telling what Hutchinson and the playoff-hungry Lions can accomplish. - Jeremy Bergman, NFL.com
Bergman also noted that Hutchinson became the first player since sacks began being tracked in 1982 to record at least 35 sacks and five interceptions over his first four NFL seasons.
In 2024, the Michigan alum suffered a severe leg injury in the third quarter of Detroit's Week 6 matchup against the Dallas Cowboys, fracturing both his fibula and tibia. At the time of his injury, Hutchinson was leading the league with 7.5 sacks.
After exercising its fifth-year option on Hutchinson for 2026, the Lions would iron down a four-year, $180 million contract extension in October of last year.
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This article originally appeared on Lions Wire: Lions' Aidan Hutchinson surges in NFL Top 100 players rankings
