When he was coming out, the consensus seemed to be he was a high floor prospect, but he didn’t have the skillset to be a game changing type DE. Hence Travon Walker going ahead of him.
With all that said, he was well on his way to becoming one of the best DEs in the league last year. What is his ceiling though? Where does he rank amongst pass rushers? Top 10 for sure, not sure about top 5. Is his ceiling high enough to be considered the best pass blocker rusher in the entire league in the next few seasons?
Obviously the Hutch training camp hype train is going nuclear so got me thinking what is his true ceiling. With his motor, drive, work ethic, and skillset I think he does have that upside. It will also help tremendously having McNeil and Williams on the inside for the foreseeable future.
Hutch likely wasn’t going to continue the same sack pace all year…
but……
he still has 19 sacks over his past 22 games.
I think it is reasonable to believe he can be a 15 sack guy on a refular basis…. who also continues have some of the best pressure stts (pass rush win rate), commands double teams, and plays the run well.
…The Best.
He is not as physically gifted as Garrett but many underestimate the impact of his Drive, Work Ethic, Conditioning, and Endless Motor.
Hutch has been one of the leaders in Pressures and he really didn’t know what he was doing.
Following him closely these last few years I have said throughout his rehab that I thought he would be better.
He is stronger and overall his body is well rested and healthier.
More importantly Hutch is a much smarter, more polished pass rusher and the DC trusts him and is willing to weaponize him.
Last year AG began to move Hutch to target the weak links in the opponents O-Line.
Many discounted his sack totals because of this but any good DC will hunt mis-matches if you trust the player to maintain the integrity of the defense wherever you play him.
Hutch has earned that trust.
Shepp demonstrated this in the scrimmage yesterday.
Even though it was just an intersquad scrimmage Shepp hunted out the mismatch and moved Hutch opposite Skipper instead of battling with Penei as everyone wanted to see.
Hutch had 3 sacks and could have had at least twice that if both he and Skipp played an entire game.
In a real game the OC would have given Skipp some help but we got a look at Hutch and how he will be used (along with the aggressive blitzing that will complement him).
Lord protect this man from injury because I think he will have a great season.
Top edges right now? I’d say Myles Garrett (29 y.o.), T.J. Watt (30), Micah Parsons (26), Nick Bosa (27), and Maxx Crosby (27). And I think a lot of people, maybe most, see him at least on par w/Crosby. There’re other guys that get attention and deserve consideration - like Hunter and Hendrickson - at least on the basis of their sack numbers. But neither of those guys has a big reputation as a run defender. I don’t think they’re considered quite in the tier of The Five.
Compared to them, Hutch is 24, almost 25 - more than a year younger than Garrett, the youngest guy on that list. There’s very much a sense that Hutch is ascending, getting better. Lots of talk about his DPOY start last year. Lots of talk about how good he looks on the field now.
Nothing’s guaranteed, of course, Hutch is WELL on his way.
He’s wrecking practice like Aaron Donald used to do. I think it was a big mistake that scouts/GMs were thinking Hutch has a ceiling. Well I guess he does have a ceiling and it’s in Canton.
Honestly can’t believe Jags we’re stupid enough to pass on him because of the length of his arms.
