It's only OTAs but the Aidan Hutchinson hype train is off and running

When Aidan Hutchinson went down with a broken leg in Week 5 of the 2024 season, it was like a flame was blown out on the Detroit Lions' defense. He was the anchor of not just their defensive line, but of their defense overall. Without him on the field, things simply weren't the same.

Now, Hutchinson is at the tail end of the road to recovery, and his return is getting some serious hype from fans and the team. The star pass rusher is only in his fourth season with the Lions and in the NFL, and the start to his 2024 season - picking up 7.5 sacks in five games - shows that he's still got a whole lot left to offer to the Lions' pass rush and overall defensive attack.

He spoke with reporters on Thursday ahead of OTAs, and immediately got media and fans fired up about his impending return to the field.

Hutchinson says all the right things in press conference ahead of OTAs

Hutchinson was very happy to get back to speaking with the press ahead of his workouts with Detroit, with Rich SIlva of Detroit News writing on Twitter/X that Hutchinson told the room it was "good to be back" at the podium.

"I'm rolling with the boys now. It feels like I'm back to being myself again," shared Silva from Hutchinson's press conference.

Hutchinson, who was finally cleared for full football activity, answered questions about whether his presence on the team would've made the difference between a win or a loss against the Washington Commanders in the NFC Divisional game ("I guess we'll never know"), joked about his new D-line partner Tyleik Williams ("Tyleik's a great addition. Unfortunately, he's a Buckeye."), and his stay in Dallas after getting injured being one of the most "miserable" experience of his life.

With him being fully cleared for football activities, though, expect to see a whole lot of content from workouts coming out from the team in the coming days. Hutchinson is going to need some time to get back to football speed, so we can't fault him if he has a slow start to the season or even to these workouts.

However, the fourth year pass rusher sounds absolutely pumped to get back on the field with his teammates and to work under his new DC, Kelvin Sheppard. A huge year - specifically, a contract year - is officially underway for Hutchinson.

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