In a few days, when the NFL Draft kicks off in Las Vegas, Aidan Hutchinson’s life will change.
The former Michigan edge rusher, the program’s single-season sack record holder, a consensus All-American last season and a Heisman Trophy runner-up, is projected to be a top-five pick, and many have him as the No. 1 overall selection.
During the lead-up to the draft, Hutchinson performed well at the NFL Combine and at Michigan’s Pro Day, graced the cover of Sports Illustrated, has been the subject of a Pro Football Focus four-part podcast and recently threw out the first pitch at a Tigers game. All along the way, his parents, two older sisters and many extended family members have been right there with him on this once-in-a-lifetime ride.
His father, Chris, is an emergency room physician at Royal Oak Beaumont who worked selflessly on the front lines during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. That was stress and pressure he is equipped and trained to handle. Watching his son on the verge of a professional football career, the emotions that accompany such a life-changing moment fall into a different category.
While relaxing at home on the couch after work not long ago, Chris Hutchinson saw an NFL Draft commercial that caught his attention. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, in a clip from last year, appeared on screen and teased the No. 1 pick of the 2022 draft by the Jacksonville Jaguars. Suddenly a photo of Aidan flashed on screen.
“And all of a sudden I went, ‘Oh, this just got real,’” Chris Hutchinson said. “I seriously felt this welling up. I’ve already warned Aidan, and he’s like, ‘I’m not gonna cry. I’m gonna be fine.’”
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It’s different for a dad, though, even one who also was an All-American defensive lineman and captain at Michigan. While Chris was a terrific college player — he had more Big Ten championship rings and wins over Ohio State than his son and was the Big Ten’s defensive lineman of the year in 1992 — he didn’t have pro potential like Aidan, who was the Big Ten’s defensive player of the year.
Aidan stands just over 6-foot-6 and is 268 pounds. He ran a 4.74 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine and recorded 28 bench press reps at Michigan’s Pro Day.
“I open up my sports app on my phone and then there’s Aidan all over the place. Whatever sports channel I’m watching, there’s Aidan across the crawl or there’s a video,” Chris Hutchinson said. “I mean, you kind of go, wait, what? The best word, which is the most accurate but doesn’t even come to the right depth, is surreal. It’s just so weird. You keep going back to he can’t really go wrong in the top five.”
The whirlwind that has been Aidan’s draft prep kicks into high gear this week in Las Vegas. Matthew Stafford, the former Lions quarterback who led the Rams to the Super Bowl this year, in partnership with Courtyard by Marriott is sitting down with Aidan on Wednesday in Las Vegas for a nearly two-hour conversation. When the draft begins on Thursday night, Chris and his wife, Melissa, will accompany Aidan on the red carpet and join him in the green room as they prepare to watch the evening unfold.
Chris Hutchinson said this week he believes there’s a 60% chance the Jaguars make Aidan the No. 1 overall pick and a 30% chance he falls to the Lions with the second pick.
“I’ve moved 10% to ‘other’ because it’s a beauty pageant. As the adage goes, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and everybody values different things and you’re never going to be able to predict what they’re going to do,” Hutchinson said. “I mean, I would be fall-off-my-chair shocked if he wasn’t in the top five.”
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Hutchinson couldn’t help himself and recently watched a show about Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers and the 2005 draft, when he and quarterback Alex Smith were projected to be the top picks. Smith went No. 1 and Rodgers, with television cameras capturing the tension, fell to No. 24.
“As long as Aidan doesn’t go through that, I’m fine,” Hutchinson said.
Aidan Hutchinson has always been grounded and down to earth, in large part because of his parents and older sisters, Mia and Aria. Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh last season referred to him as “transparent as a baggie,” as in, what you see is what you get.
As they look at this draft, the Hutchinsons know certain things fell into place for Aidan to be rated so highly. First, there’s the lack of big-time quarterback prospects. There’s also the fact a broken ankle during the 2020 season gave Aidan another reason to return for the 2021 season instead of heading to the NFL a year ago. When Chris talks about the “surreal” nature of this experience, this is why.
“That it’s Aidan, that his value is so high,” he said. “I try to rationalize it away because there’s no quarterbacks, and they’re focusing on Aidan. It’s just Aidan happens to be a really good player in a draft where there’s no quarterbacks that are elite, so it really changes the focus.
“All of these things — he had to break his ankle, there had to be no quarterbacks. It’s a little strong to call it a perfect storm, but it’s just all of these pieces had to fall just right. Most other years he’s not going to be this guy. That same thing happened for the Heisman. The quarterbacks weren’t really doing anything, he had his Heisman moment in a great win (over Ohio State), and next thing you know, he finishes second.”
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For the record, Aria wants her brother close to home, and that means playing for the Lions. But what if he goes No. 1? If an NFL Draft commercial made Chris emotional, what’s the real experience going to be like?
“I sort of have a couple scenarios,” Hutchinson said. “If he gets called No. 1, I’m probably going to look like a hose of water shooting out of my eyes. I’m probably going to lose my sanity there for a brief moment just as this sort of cathartic, this is the end of this process. Boom, it just happened.
“If he doesn’t go No. 1, that time between (picks) No. 1 and No. 2 — and hopefully the Lions doing the right thing — I’m probably going to cut the circulation off to Melissa’s hand while I’m waiting for the Lions to call him. You just get freaked out. Are the Lions going to do something kooky and not take him and then what’s gonna happen?”
There is a certain pressure that comes with being the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft. While Aidan is prepared to handle that added stress and the expectations, being the No. 2 pick certainly would be well-received.
“No matter what happens, you really can’t go wrong if you’re going to be that high a pick,” Chris Hutchinson said, “especially if he gets a legitimate chance to play on the hometown team 30 minutes from home.”
Very soon, Aidan Hutchinson will receive a call and know his NFL destination. With that, his father will shed some tears and finally exhale at the end of a long, sometimes surprising, journey.
achengelis@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @chengelis