Michigan Football: Could Aidan Hutchinson go No. 1 or wind up in Detroit?

On April 28th, 2022, Michigan football legend Aidan Hutchinson will take the next step in his football journey. Though there are no guarantees in the NFL draft or beyond, that won’t stop Michigan fans from speculating where the young edge-rusher will land.

Hutchinson’s Michigan football legacy is now solidified

Hutchinson has been a familiar name in Ann Arbor for years now, not because of Aidan, but because of his father, Chris Hutchinson. In 2021, Aidan stepped out of his father’s shadow and gave Wolverine fans a new face to associate with the name.

Though Hutchinson had impressed during his first two seasons as a starter in 2019 and 2020, he was still only projected to go in the middle-to-late rounds of the 2020 draft. Following Michigan’s disappointing 2-4 season, Hutchinson announced that he would return for his senior season in 2021, a decision that shaped Michigan’s phenomenal season the following year.

Michigan football entered the 2021 season with little-to-no expectations. Most predictions had Michigan hovering around seven wins, likely seeing the end of the Harbaugh era in Ann Arbor. These predictions could not have been more wrong.

Michigan would finish the season 12-2 with notable wins over No. 2 Ohio State at home and then No. 13 Iowa in the Big Ten Title Game. Hutchinson, the Wolverines’ captain, finished second in Heisman voting before leading his team against Georgia in the College Football Playoff.

Aidan Hutchinson broke his father’s single-season sack record (11) before the regular season came to an end.

As the dust settled on November 27th, Hutchinson led the team with 13 sacks, with Junior David Ojabo close behind. Hutchinson capped off his historical performance with a 14th sack against the Iowa Hawkeyes, helping the Wolverines cruise to a 42-3 victory in the Big Ten Championship Game.

Aidan Hutchinson’s next stop: the NFL

Now that his legacy in maize and blue is complete, it is Hutchinson’s time to prove himself at the next level. As a projected top-2 pick, the Michigan legend will likely land with the Jaguars or the Lions.

While Hutchinson claimed he was never a Lions fan growing up, he added that he would give his all for any team that drafted him. Many Michigan football fans would love to see Aidan Hutchinson stay in Michigan and play for the hometown Lions.

Both the Jaguars and Lions need an edge rusher. The place in which Hutchinson is drafted will ultimately depend on which elite pass-rusher the Jaguars decide to take with the first pick. In Hutchinson’s draft class is Oregon’s stand-out defensive end, Kayvon Thibodeaux. If the Jaguars go with Thibodeaux, the Lions will likely go with Hutchinson and vice versa.

Regardless of where Hutchinson begins his professional career, he will always walk on water on Michigan’s campus and will be reminisced upon as one of the Wolverines’ greatest defensive players of all time.