With Aidan Hutchinson being placed on injured reserve due to a tibia and fibula fracture that takes 4-6 months to heal, the Detroit Lions filled his roster spot on Tuesday.

The Lions signed defensive end Isaiah Thomas off the Cincinnati Bengals practice squad. Thomas, who played college football at Oklahoma, was drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the seventh round of the 2022 NFL Draft. He played in ten games his rookie year, and in the off-season, he stayed in the division and went to the Bengals. He has not recorded a stat during the 2023 or 2024 season, but the Lions hope to tap into his potential, as he stands 6’5’’ and weighs 266 pounds.

The Lions are incredibly thin at defensive end, with Marcus Davenport also on IR, a player they hoped would rush opposite to Hutchinson. Detroit will be counting on Josh Paschal, their second-round draft pick in 2022, to fill in for the missing pieces and breakout. However, Paschal has not yet recorded a sack through three seasons in his NFL career.

Even with the injury concerns, Dan Campbell did not say his team needed to make a trade on Monday and believes in the talent on their roster.

“Yeah. I mean, listen, my job is to coach what’s here, and I’m going to coach the hell out of them, and we are as a staff. And so, yeah, I do (think we can win with what we have). And if we get somebody, great. If we don’t, these are our guys. And the coaches know that. This is what we came into camp with; this is why we develop talent, and it’s next man up, and they’ve got to be ready to go.”

The Lions will play the Minnesota Vikings on the road this week in an in-division matchup between one-loss teams. ESPN Bet currently lists Detroit as a 2.5-point underdog.

Detroit Lions’ standout edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson will miss the rest of the 2024 season after undergoing emergency surgery on a broken tibia and fibula. Hutchinson sustained the injury in the second half of his team’s blowout win against the Dallas Cowboys. He was taken off the field on a cart with an air cast around his lower leg. After the game, Lions head coach Dan Campbell announced that Hutchinson had stayed overnight at a local Dallas hospital to receive the surgery, and the team released a statement.

“Aidan Hutchinson underwent successful surgery to repair a fractured tibia and fibula at Baylor White Medical Center in Irving, Texas, last night. Hutchinson will return to Detroit this week and is expected to make a full recovery. There is no timetable for his return to play at this time.”

Later in the day, multiple NFL media sources confirmed that Hutchinson would be done for the year.

From his Instagram, Hutchinson released his own statement:

“In light of Aidan’s injury last night, we want to thank you all for the outpouring of love and well wishes,” a post from Hutchinson’s Instagram page read. “Your support through this shocking situation means so much to our family. We are blessed to share that Aidan’s surgery was a success. Thank you to the doctors and nurses who have taken such good care of him. Aidan wants you all to know that his healing and redemption story has begun. He is holding the motto of Detroit close to heart: resurget cineribus. He will rise from the ashes.”

Hutchinson currently leads the NFL in pressures and was in the midst of a career year with 7.5 sacks through five games, anchoring a Detroit roster that is 4-1 right now. The Lions took Hutchinson out of Michigan with the second overall pick in the 2022 draft out of the University of Michigan.