2022 NFL Draft Prospect Profile: Aidan Hutchinson, DE, Michigan
Aidan Hutchinson was a top-10 defensive lineman coming out of high school. He saw minimal action in his freshman year, exceeded expectations in his second year of college, and faced a season-ending leg injury in his third year. His senior year is where Hutchinson made a name for himself, ending the season with 14 sacks and as Heisman Trophy runner-up.
Aidan Hutchinson Profile
Aidan Hutchinson Combine Results
Scouting Report
As the 2nd highest-rated Edge in the NCAA last season, Hutchinson has had a meteoric rise up draft boards. Most prognosticators had him pegged as a late 1st rounder coming into the season, but now he's almost a lock to be a top-3, likely first overall pick. Aidan Hutchinson is seen as this season's closest thing in the entire class as a "sure thing." He is the type of prospect that it is challenging to find flaws/weaknesses in his game.
Strengths
Aidan Hutchinson is a dominant and quick edge rusher who plays with great strength. He has excellent flexibility for his size, which helps him tremendously with his pass rushes.
His ability to quickly shed blocks and pursue the ball carrier sets him apart in the run game. He possesses excellent motor and demonstrates excellent toughness every time he plays.
Hutchinson’s strength, quickness, and flexibility set him apart from other edge rushers. He also shows great character off the field, in his community, and in the locker, which earned him a few accolades in college.
Weaknesses
Hutchinson needs to improve his counter moves and tends to hand fight too much, which keeps him engaged with the offensive line too long. During his entire career at Michigan, Hutchinson managed to bull rush his opponents a lot.
His arms are another area of concern where he has a below-average arm length. He has a lot of muscle mass and is a big-time lifter in the weight room which possibly means he may not have much more improvement in terms of strength.
As mentioned before, it's tough to find many flaws in his game, and although he is not an elite talent, he may have one of the highest "floors" of any top 5 pick we have seen in a long time.
Trait-Based Projection
Aidan Hutchinson is a dominant player that would excel in 3-4 and 4-3 style defenses. Hutchinson has the power, quickness, and bend to be a dominant force defender and a relentless pass rusher. His versatility allows him to occasionally play with his hand in the dirt and dominate taking on blockers due to his combination of strength, power, and length.
However, given that most of his college snaps were outside the OT (or 7/6/9 technique), Hutchinson will most likely perform best in a defense that allows him to set up outside the offensive tackle/over a tight end.
Hutchinson can provide a true pass rush, strength to bull rush, power to be a dominant force defender, and quickness to shed blockers, allowing him to thrive in any NFL defense.
Advanced Statistics
Aidan Hutchinson has statistically been graded out as one of the most elite edge rushers to play college football this past season. For every single pass rush and run-stopping grade that he could receive, he was all within the 80th percentile of all categories. His highest-rated category was true pass-rush grade and he graded out with being in the 93.4% percentile.
For sacks on the quarterback, he was ranked 4th last season, and for hurries, he was ranked 4th and was 2nd in other pass rush wins for the entire FBS. His highest rated position traits were foot/balance, strength, and hand usage, for which he was given a 9 out of 10 for all three categories. For the 96.95% of snaps, for his entire college career, he was graded out with a score of 94.8 every time he lined up outside of the tackle.
His top 3 rated games as an edge rusher in his entire career were versus Iowa (2021) where he received a grade of 93.2, Western Michigan (2021) where he received a grade of 93, and Ohio State (2021) where he received a grade of 90.3. He is ranked as the best edge rusher and is expected to be a Top-10 draft pick.
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