Jan. 23, 2026, 5:05 p.m. ET<\/p>\n
On Thursday, the NFL announced finalists for its 2025 NFL Honors<\/a>, with Detroit Lions<\/a> defensive end Aidan Hutchinson named as a finalist for Comeback Player of the Year<\/a> and Defensive Player of the Year.<\/p>\n Hutchinson enjoyed a sensational 2025 campaign in his return to play after suffering a gruesome season-ending leg injury in 2024. The 6-foot-7, 268-pound former Michigan Wolverines<\/a>‘ pass rusher registered 54 tackles (36 solo, 18 assisted), a career-high in sacks (14.5) and forced fumbles (4), and one interception while starting all 17 games.<\/p>\n Hutchinson led the NFL with 100 pressures<\/a> and made Pro Football Focus history, becoming the only player with multiple 100-plus pressure seasons since PFF began tracking player performances in 2006. Hutchinson also logged 1,005 defensive snaps, which set a new career-high and accounted for 91% of all Detroit defensive snaps.<\/p>\n The four finalists joining Hutchinson for the Defensive Player of the Year award<\/a> include Houston Texans<\/a> defensive end Will Anderson Jr., Denver Broncos<\/a> linebacker Nik Bonitto, Cleveland Browns<\/a> defensive end Myles Garrett, and Green Bay Packers<\/a> defensive end Micah Parsons.<\/p>\n New England Patriots<\/a> wide receiver Stefon Diggs, Jacksonville Jaguars<\/a> quarterback Trevor Lawrence, Dallas Cowboys<\/a> quarterback Dak Prescott, and San Francisco 49ers<\/a> running back Christian McCaffrey.<\/p>\n Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n The four finalists joining Hutchinson for the Comeback Player of the Year award<\/a> include New England Patriots<\/a> wide receiver Stefon Diggs, Jacksonville Jaguars<\/a> quarterback Trevor Lawrence, Dallas Cowboys<\/a> quarterback Dak Prescott, and San Francisco 49ers<\/a> running back Christian McCaffrey.<\/p>\n The winner of the Defensive Player of the Year award will be presented at NFL Honors on Thursday, Feb. 5 at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco during Super Bowl week and will be aired at 9 p.m. ET on NBC and NFL Network with streaming available on Peacock and NFL Plus.<\/p>\n For more\u00a0Lions<\/a>\u00a0coverage, follow us on X,\u00a0@TheLionsWire<\/a>, and give our\u00a0Facebook<\/a>\u00a0page a like.\u00a0Follow Scout on X:\u00a0@SpringgateNews<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jan. 23, 2026, 5:05 p.m. ET On Thursday, the NFL announced finalists for its 2025 NFL Honors, with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":670827,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2071],"tags":[95878,146,113,2506,7,147,6,52959,96502,97086,95882,95930,97121,95957,95886,96242,95976,95953,96167,98267,98266,96505,95896,95888,95895,96117,95906,96071,95883,97222,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-700301","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-detroit-lions","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-detroit","10":"tag-detroit-lions","11":"tag-detroitlions","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-lions","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-sstssportsnfllions","16":"tag-sstsnlions","17":"tag-tagaidan-hutchinson","18":"tag-tagamerican-football","19":"tag-tagbig-ten-conference-football","20":"tag-tagchristian-mccaffrey","21":"tag-tagcleveland-browns","22":"tag-tagdenver-broncos","23":"tag-tagdetroit-lions","24":"tag-taggreen-bay-packers","25":"tag-taghouston-texans","26":"tag-tagmicah-parsons","27":"tag-tagmichigan-wolverines","28":"tag-tagmichigan-wolverines-football","29":"tag-tagmyles-garrett","30":"tag-tagnational-sports","31":"tag-tagnfl","32":"tag-tagnfl-hub","33":"tag-tagnik-bonitto","34":"tag-tagoverall-positive","35":"tag-tagsmg-timely","36":"tag-tagsports-news","37":"tag-tagwill-anderson-jr","38":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=700301"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700301\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/670827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=700301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=700301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=700301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}