Pro Football Rumors
The anticipated sea change on the edge rusher market did not disappoint. With a host of Hall of Fame-caliber players receiving new deals in the same offseason, the position’s salary ceiling climbed by more than $12MM in AAV between March and August. The final domino did not fall until late October, but it will influence how future contract-seeking edge players proceed.
Although Aidan Hutchinson‘s Lions extension did not eclipse Micah Parsons‘ Packers pact, it came close. The Lions gave their ace pass rusher a four-year, $180MM deal, checking in just south of Parsons’ four-year, $186MM Green Bay accord. The Lions and Hutchinson had been in talks off and on since before Maxx Crosby began the offseason fireworks in March. In that time, the EDGE ceiling rose from $34MM per year (Nick Bosa) to $46.5MM. The sides began talks at the Combine.
Green Bay’s late-August Parsons blockbuster raised the market by nearly $6MM per year, topping where the Steelers went for T.J. Watt ($41MM AAV) in July. While Detroit has shown a willingness during the Brad Holmes GM era to extend standout players in-season — as the Alim McNeill deal showed last year — the team and Hutchinson’s camp may have completed their deal by Week 1 were it not for the Packers’ process. The Cowboys-Packers trade slowed the Lions’ negotiations, according to ESPN.com’s Jeremy Fowler and Eric Woodyard.
“[The contract] would’ve probably been done earlier, but with the Micah thing,” Aidan’s father, Chris, said via ESPN. “Nobody could predict that, so that threw a wrench into it. So then everybody had to, as the expression goes, ‘get used to the new price of gas’ as he reset the whole market, so everybody had to take a step back, and it just took a while.”
As of early August, the Lions and Hutchinson had not engaged in serious talks. The Parsons contract was finalized August 28, but we heard shortly after that trade/extension came together that the Lions would need more time. Unsurprisingly, the new EDGE going rate stalled the talks.
Turning 25 shortly before the Parsons extension, Hutchinson is more than a year younger. He could have pushed the Lions to move the bar closer to $50MM per year, and the Lions could have waited after having exercised a fifth-year option on the Michigan alum in April. A delay into 2026, however, would likely have cost more.
Another cap rise coupled with Hutchinson perhaps ready to tack an All-Pro season onto his resume — after successfully returning from a broken leg — would have positioned the fourth-year player to pounce. The Texans, who reset the cornerback market early this past offseason via Derek Stingley Jr.‘s deal (agreed to in March), also could have impacted the process by using the same timeline with the fast-rising Will Anderson Jr. — which is believed to be a goal.
Ultimately, Hutchinson did not choose to drag his negotiations out further and delay an assured windfall. His extension is much closer to where Parsons resides...
