Aidan Hutchinson Exclusive: Lions Star Talks Comeback Journey, Maxx Crosby Trade Dream

Oct 13, 2024; Detroit Lions defensive end Aidan Hutchinson during the second quarter against the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium - Data Strive - via Lionswire

Aidan Hutchinson bounced back in a major way during the 2025 season.

The star pass rusher of the Detroit Lions clinched his first All-Pro bid and second Pro Bowl selection after posting a career year across the board with 14.5 sacks, 54 tackles, 14 tackles for loss and 35 quarterback hits.

Hutchinson ranked fourth in the NFL in sacks just a year removed from breaking his leg in the fifth game of the 2024 season.

"I felt like I was back to normal, back to what I'm doing, what I love to do," Hutchinson told Casino Guru News in an exclusive interview. "So grateful for that. When you get something taken away from you that's that special to you, it really makes playing football that much more fun again, because you know what it was like without football. Getting back to sacking quarterbacks, tackling quarterbacks, getting TFLs, winning games, that was all so great to get back to."

The 25-year-old fractured both his tibia and his fibula and was given a four-to-six month timetable for a return.

Hutchinson not only came back with a force, he came back better than ever.

"I want to credit the Lions recovery room for getting me right," Hutchinson said. "(Trainer) Brett Fischer was a guy that was heading my rehab up, and I thought he did a tremendous job. They pushed me just enough to get the right amount of growth — learning how to run again with the rod in your leg and the bone still healing. All of that, it was a journey. But to have a great supporting cast around me is really why I think I was able to return to my original form, and then some."

Hutchinson: ‘I knew I’d be the same’ player after injury

One of the biggest roadblocks to a serious injury such as a broken leg isn't just the physical road to recovery, it's the mental one. Worrying about re-breaking your leg or suffering another similar injury is a constant worry for many athletes.

Hutchinson acknowledges this was a part of his thinking, but he knew he'd be back to playing at a high level upon returning.

"I knew I'd be the same," said Hutchinson. "It was just a matter of time. Even when they clear you to get back to football — everybody says this when they get a surgery in the NFL — it's really two years out of the injury, where you're really feeling back back to normal, where it's not in your subconscious anymore.

Because there were times when I had to — in camp, we go live because we tackle a good amount in Detroit in practice — and my leg would be swinging around and whiplashing people. I had to experience those things in order to mentally get over that fact of, 'It's OK if you hit it, everything's intact, nothing's going anywhere. Those little baby steps were crucial for my mentality."

This was Hutchinson's first and only major injury of his NFL career. Outside of the 2024 season, the two-time Pro Bowl defensive end has appeared in every possible game.

He acknowledges that the mental roadblock is bigger than the physical one.

"Absolutely, man, absolutely," Hutchinson said. "Because the physical stuff, it was always bones. Bones break and bones heal. But turning the corner and diving for a quarterback and having your legs whiplash and have the possibility of hitting somebody like, mentally that for me, was a hard thing to get over. I have to dive for a quarterback to sack him, and my leg might hit something. Nobody can really teach you how to get over that, but it's something that you have to look within and consistently tell yourself, like, 'Hey, you got a rod in there. It's going to be OK.'"

Hutchinson said by the end of the 2025 season, he was over the mental roadblock following his broken leg injury.

"Yeah, for sure," Hutchinson said. "I was pretty much over it. But there were times during the season where I may have seen myself on film, not diving for something, but it was all subconscious. It's not like I was trying not to do it. I think it's just, the brain goes through these things where you have to tell it like, 'Hey, it's OK. You can do this.'

"Those little leaps and bounds were crucial for me to get to that point. By the end of the season, I was just like, 'Dude, I'm at the point where I'm a competitor. I play football. I don't care what happens. I'm going to sell out and just trust that everything is going to stay intact and be OK.’"

Hutchinson: Lions trading for Maxx Crosby would be ‘dream scenario’

With trade rumors swirling around five-time Pro Bowl defensive end Maxx Crosby, teams have been dreaming about adding the star pass rusher.

Crosby earns an average salary of $35.5 million per year, which made him the NFL's highest-paid non-quarterback at the time of his signing last offseason.

Meanwhile, Hutchinson agreed to a four-year deal worth $180 million -- with $141 million -- during the 2025 season, giving him the highest guaranteed money among non-quarterback players.

While the possibility of the Lions adding Crosby is probably slim, the idea still is one that excites Hutchinson. It's worth noting that Crosby attended Eastern Michigan.

"The idea of it is incredibly promising," Hutchinson said. "That sounds like a dream scenario to be playing alongside a beast like that. I was answering the same questions last year about Myles Garrett, so I don't know the reality of this situation and how real this actually is, especially given our GM — if you listen to him talk a little bit about edge rushers, I don't know. It doesn't sound like it'd be something they pursue.

"But you never know what they do. There's also the money and cash situation. I know we got a lot of young, promising talent on our team that they're going to pay this offseason. I'm just happy I am not involved in that, because all that stuff goes a little over my head. I just want to play ball."

Hutchinson said he and Crosby DM each other and have a pretty good relationship.

"We DM every now and then," said Hutchinson. "I've seen him a couple times here and there. Definitely a similar breed of players and how we play. That's why it'd be so fun to play on the same D-line as him. Because both of us go for 60 minutes. You're gonna feel us. That's what I respect most about him, is even being on the Raiders, a team that has struggled over the years since he's been there, he's always going and he's humming and he's very motivational for those guys."

Hutchinson: 2025 underperformance

The Lions obviously struggled during the 2025 season, missing the playoffs for the first time since the 2022 season with a 9-8 record. The disappointing results occurred just a year after Detroit clinched the NFC's No. 1 seed with the best record.

Hutchinson said head coach Dan Campbell and the rest of the team were "pissed off" at the results.

"I think if he wasn't pissed off, he wouldn't be a good coach," Hutchinson said. "He was pissed off, we were pissed off. It was not an ideal situation. But we put ourselves in that. You can sit there and say, 'If we made this play, won this game, we'd be in it.' But we didn't, so you got to live with that reality and move on.

"But I say this all the time: the beautiful thing about football is, it doesn't matter if you win the Super Bowl. A week later, two weeks later, people are still going to be like, 'Alright, 2026 season. How are the Lions going to do it again?' It's always about the next play, the next game, the next season. That's what this business is. That's what we're going to embody."