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Eric Woodyard, ESPN
ARLINGTON, Texas — Detroit Lions star edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson underwent successful surgery Sunday night at a Dallas-area hospital to repair his fractured tibia and fibula, the team announced Monday.
Hutchinson will return to Detroit this week and is expected to make a full recovery. There is no timetable for his return to play, the team said.
A source, however, told ESPN’s Adam Schefter that Hutchinson’s season is over, as his injury typically carries a six-to-eight-month injury recovery timeline. A rod was placed in Hutchinson’s leg during the surgery, the source said.
Hutchinson injured his left leg on a play in which he was sacking Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott during Sunday’s 47-9 win over the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium.
Hutchinson’s leg appeared to snap above the ankle when it collided with the left leg of teammate Alim McNeill as Hutchinson was pulling Prescott down.
Members of the Lions and Cowboys quickly circled around Hutchinson as team doctors rushed to his side. Hutchinson’s leg was placed in an air cast, and he exited on a cart.
“Hate it for Hutch. That’s tough. It was tough,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said. “He’s in good hands right now. He’s being taken care of. He’ll stay back here and obviously he’s going to be down for a little while. So, that’s tough and it’s hard when you lose somebody like him, but we’ll know a lot more after this and obviously wish him the best.”
McNeill called the injury “frightening to see.” And he wasn’t initially aware of the severity of Hutchinson’s injury after it happened, although he was involved in the play.
“That’s what I felt, but I haven’t seen it myself so I couldn’t really tell,” McNeill said after the game. “I didn’t know if that was him or not, but I did feel somebody like leg with me and then I saw Hutch down … that’s crazy. “
Lions running back David Montgomery, who finished with two rushing touchdowns, said he has faith that Campbell and his staff can prepare players to fill Hutchinson’s role.
“It’s an unfortunate loss for us. A big, big, big blow for us and it’s just more personal for us now because of the kind of guy that Aidan is and the kind of character that he has and what he brings to the locker room and to this team,” Montgomery said. “So, I know for me personally, I’m going to take it real personal for a guy like Aidan because he was the heartbeat of this team, and he still will be.”
Hutchinson, the second pick of the 2022 NFL draft, has 7.5 sacks this season, the most through five games by a Lions player since 1983 (William Gay), per ESPN Research. Entering Week 6, Hutchinson led the NFL in sacks, pressures and pass rush win rate even though the Lions were coming off their bye week.
Without Hutchinson, Detroit will likely rely heavily on defensive linemen Josh Paschal, Levi Onwuzurike, DJ Reader and Isaac Ukwu to help pick up the slack. The injury could reopen the door for James Houston, who was ruled inactive for the game at Dallas.
“We’re all feeling for him 100 percent,” Onwuzurike said. “It’s hard to rebound from a guy like Hutch. That s— is tough. He’s a freak. He was probably going to break the sack record this year, so when you lose someone like that, that’s real tough but we’ve got hungry guys. … So, I think the guys will handle business 100 percent.”
McNeill said he and his teammates on the defensive side of the ball don’t anticipate any major schematic changes.
“We’re still going to get off the ball off that edge, play that run and set that edge. But I don’t think too much will change, maybe like some third-down stuff, but I don’t really think too much, too much will change,” McNeill told ESPN while exiting the locker room. “It will just be a change of rotation and stuff like that, but I don’t think anything will be too drastic, though.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Source: www.espn.com