Detroit Lions defensive end Aidan Hutchinson recorded a career-high 14.5 sacks during the 2025 NFL season. In the season opener against the New Orleans Saints, he added two more in a 31-30 overtime win. That is a good start for a player who has never won Defensive Player of the Year, though he was one of five finalists for the award last season.

Myles Garrett has won that award twice, in 2023 and again last season, when he broke the NFL single-season sack record with 23 sacks for the Cleveland Browns. Garrett is a Los Angeles Ram now, after an offseason trade, but the number he left behind is the one every edge rusher gets measured against. With Hutchinson recording two sacks in the first week, what are the odds he could have more than 23 sacks this season?

Tim Twentyman Thinks Aidan Hutchinson Can Challenge the Record

Detroitlions.com writer Tim Twentyman recapped where all four NFC North teams stand after the first week of the 2026 NFL season. One of the things he flagged for the Lions is Hutchinson challenging the sack record.

Twentyman said, “Coming off the most dominant training camp of his career, Hutchinson opened the season with 2.0 sacks, four quarterback hits and 10 total pressures for the Lions’ defense. Myles Garrett set the single-season sack record at 23.0 last season. If Hutchinson plays all season the way he did Sunday, he could certainly challenge that mark by season’s end.”

The Buffalo Bills Are the Next Test

It is going to be hard for Hutchinson to sack Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen a couple of times on Thursday night, Sept. 17, in Buffalo. The Houston Texans got to Allen just twice in week one, and Buffalo still won that game 36-31. If Hutchinson does record another sack or two against the Bills, then there is a chance that him trying to chase Garrett’s record needs to be taken seriously this season.