Lions' Aidan Hutchinson explains why he signed extension during the season

Detroit Lions pass-rusher Aidan Hutchinson secured his financial future when he signed a four-year contract extension worth $180M with $141M in guarantees back in October.

However, the perception is that he could have secured an even more lucrative deal if he had waited until the offseason to sign. In a piece by ESPN's Jeremy Fowler and Eric Woodyard on Tuesday, Hutchinson explained why he accepted his extension during the season.

Aidan Hutchinson reveals "priority" regarding contract negotiations

"There's a lot of factors that went into it, but ultimately, I know I wanted to be in Detroit, and that was the goal," Hutchinson explained. "Obviously, as a player, you have a responsibility when you're in the echelon of players that I'm in to continue to push the market up, but was it at the expense of continuing to draw this process out and try to get an extra $1 [million] or $2 [million] or get above [Green Bay Packers star Micah Parsons] or whatever it was. To me, it was important that we got it done and I was here. That was kind of the priority."

Hutchinson is originally from Plymouth, Michigan, and he played for the Michigan Wolverines before the Lions selected him second overall in the 2022 NFL Draft. He suffered gruesome fractures of his tibia and fibula in October 2024, but the Lions nevertheless chose to pick up his fifth-year option for 2026 this spring. 

As Hutchinson mentioned, Parsons set the market for players at his position when he signed a four-year, $188M contract that included $136M guaranteed as part of the trade that sent him from the Dallas Cowboys to the Packers in August. Hutchinson's mom said her son isn't losing sleep over the differences between his contract and Parsons' deal.

Why Aidan Hutchinson is "good" with extension

"He always was just a kid that still had his communion money tucked into his top drawer. He just didn't need anything," Melissa Hutchinson told ESPN while speaking about Aidan. "He's just a guy that would be hard to buy for him for Christmas unless it was very specific and it was very thought over from him. It was never like, 'Get me as much as I can get because I can ask for as much as I want.' No, it was never like that. It was like, 'No, I'm good,' and that's him." 

Aidan Hutchinson and the rest of the Lions are preparing this week for the club's Thanksgiving Day home game against the 7-3-1 Packers. As of Tuesday morning, ESPN BET had 7-4 Detroit as a 2.5-point favorite.