The 2025 offseason has been a banner year for pass rushers. Las Vegas Raiders DE Maxx Crosby became the NFL’s highest-paid edge player before the Cleveland Browns’ Myles Garrett obliterated the market at $40 million per year, the number he needed to rescind his trade request. Others remain on the docket. The Dallas Cowboys figure to hammer out a deal with Micah Parsons at some point while the Cincinnati Bengals are locked in a messy standoff with Trey Hendrickson. The Pittsburgh Steelers have repeatedly stated the team’s goal of extending T.J. Watt before the year begins.
But there’s another pass rusher who could soon rise up the contract charts. Now healthy, Detroit Lions DE Aidan Hutchinson is poised to get paid.
The NFL’s sack leader before breaking his leg midway through 2024, Hutchinson met with the media earlier this week and noted he’s been fully cleared by doctors. Appearing on The Pat McAfee Show Friday, NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport believes a deal could soon be struck.
“The Lions have taken care of their superstars early with massive contracts,” Rapoport told the show. “I mean, they have really done a nice job of getting deals where guys can be really happy about it, but helping themselves by doing them really early. Penei Sewell was obviously a big one. Amon-Ra St. Brown, there’s been several of them.
“Now that [Hutchinson is] fully cleared and let’s say he goes out in OTAs and looks normal, which is what I expect ’cause he’s awesome. I believe that he’s another one who will get paid a huge deal.”
To Rapoport’s point, Sewell and St. Brown received extensions on the same day, April 24, of last year. It’s a smart tactic to get ahead of future deals that would only raise the price. Detroit has waited longer on Hutchinson but his health was a complicating factor. Now cleared to practice, the Lions could work out a deal after getting a look at him at OTAs and minicamp.
Rapoport wasn’t sold on the idea of Hutchinson getting paid more than Garrett. But he’ll be in the same ballpark.
“I believe being cleared will pave the way to a new deal,” he said.
Hutchinson getting a deal done would drive up Watt’s price tag, a number that’s only risen since the start of the offseason. Had Pittsburgh been first to the table, a contract worth $35 million average yearly value likely would’ve gotten it done. With Watt’s rival Garrett topping the charts, it’s hard to see Watt wanting to take less. And if Hutchinson is able to beat Garrett’s mark, even by a tiny margin, Watt may want to top that number to be announced as the NFL’s highest-paid pass rusher whenever his deal is done. The same could hold true after a Parsons extension.
What once appeared to be a relatively easy deal to make could now turn into another drawn-out negotiation, a possibility Steelers.com editor Bob Labriola recently acknowledged. Like 2021, it’s possible Watt holds in or at the least, has a light summer once the Steelers report to training camp. His previous extension wasn’t reached until days before the season and it’s possible 2025 ends the same way. Every pass rusher who gets paid before him only increases those odds.
