Aidan Hutchinson's season-ending injury puts edge rusher as a massive in-season need for the Detroit Lions.
Despite the glaring absence off the edge, head coach Dan Campbell continues to insist the Lions won't make a trade just to make it.
"Look, we're open to anything," Campbell told reporters on Wednesday. "(General manager) Brad (Holmes) has been working through it. We are not going to be in a hurry. Brad is doing his homework. The crew is doing their homework. They're looking at everything. But we're not going to just make a move to make it. It's got to be right. It's got to be the right guy, and the pieces have to fall in place.
It's a similar chorus Campbell has sung since Hutchinson went down on Sunday with a fractured tibia and fibula.
The reality is that difference-making edge rushers rarely come available. Campbell knows this.
"Look, Brad knows the ins and outs of what it would take to acquire somebody," he said on Wednesday. "I don't know all of those, but I know enough to know that if it's somebody that is highly productive, 6-foot-6, 285 pounds, run a 4.4 and 35-inch arms. Those guys don't just fall off trees. You're going to have to … you know, do you want to trade Hutch for that guy? Some of it is, certainly, trade value. It's also contract. Does that have a bearing on our future and who we're trying to get signed moving forward."
Radiers owner Mark Davis has already squashed rumors that Las Vegas would part with Eastern Michigan product Maxx Crosby. The Browns might be in sell mode, but Myles Garrett shouldn't be on the table (maybe Za'Darius Smith could be an option). The Bengals don't seem likely to part with Trey Hendrickson, who was in New Orleans when Campbell and Aaron Glenn were on the staff. It would cost the Jets even more to trade Haason Reddick to an NFC team.
Smak dab in their Super Bowl window, Holmes should certainly pick up the phone and check in on the possibility of acquiring a Pro Bowl-caliber talent ahead of the Nov. 5 trade deadline, but the odds of consummating that chase seem long.
There could be a lower-level move to make – a Jadeveon Clowney-type—but likely not one singular move that can replace Hutchinson's production. That's why Sunday's injury was so brutal for the Lions, who face the 5-0 Vikings on Sunday. A position of need entering the season is even more glaring six weeks later.
