FMIA: A Peek Inside The Journal Of Aidan Hutchinson, And What We Learned At NFL Scouting Combine

INDIANAPOLIS — “I don’t know why I did it,” Aidan Hutchinson said Saturday night after his NFL Scouting Combine workout, sitting in his room at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, a few long spirals from Lucas Oil Stadium.

“I just DM’d Mel Kiper.”

Hutchinson was recalling a spring day in Ann Arbor in his sophomore year, May 2020. He was 19. He was full of himself, as many 19-year-olds are. He was all into his football life, coming off a nice sophomore season on the defensive line for the Wolverines.

So he went on Instagram. He found Mel Kiper’s account. He began tapping.

“I am going to be the number 1 DE on your Big Board, mark my words.”

He never got a response, this braggy kid from Michigan. He didn’t care. The message was sent.

“That was something I wanted to put out in the universe and I wanted to get it off my chest,” Hutchinson, a little weary from the combine crappola and workout that afternoon, told me. “It’s something that I believed so much in my head. I was motivated. I wanted to be number one on that list.”

Hutchinson is there, and not just on Kiper’s list. His performance at the combine put all eyes on him. And 52 days before the draft, the bullseye’s on him. Just the way he wants it to be.

“Now I gotta send a couple more direct messages to some other people,” Hutchinson said.

No, Aidan Hutchinson. Now they’ve got to DM you.

More on Hutchinson and his combine performance and the draft his world is coming. A few interesting things around the NFL world first, including:

There’s a lot happening. So let’s go.

From conversations heard in the skywalks of Indianapolis, in the bars and restaurants and coffee spots (you should try the JW Marriott Starbucks or Kaffeine Coffee Co. or Coat Check Coffee, for good coffee and better