ALLEN PARK >> Detroit Lions coaches were never really concerned about how Aidan Hutchinson would look upon his return to the practice field, but it’s nice to get confirmation anyway.

“He looks really good,” new defensive line coach Kacy Rodgers said Thursday about his superstar pass rusher.

Hutchinson has been working his way back from a broken tibia and fibula that he suffered in a Week 6 win over the Dallas Cowboys and has finally rejoined his team for some light spring work without pads.

The timing of Hutchinson’s injury was unfortunate for a variety of reasons. For starters, it significantly hurt the team’s pass rush in a season with Super Bowl aspirations. But on a personal level, it also disrupted the most dominant early-season performance of any NFL defender.

It’s been a long, grueling process to get back on the grass, but Rodgers and new defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard could not be more encouraged by what Hutchinson has shown, both on the field and off.

According to Sheppard, one sign the arrow is pointing up is that he appears to have his swagger back during individual drills.

“I said, ‘Hutch, you know how I know you’re back?’ He said, ‘How?’ I said, ‘Because you’re touching the ground when you run that hoop,’ and that’s like this little thing that he does, like he’s some supernatural cat — which he is,” Sheppard said. “But I’m like, ‘That’s how I know you’re back, big dog.’”

With all eyes on how Hutchinson, the second overall pick in the 2022 draft, would build on a productive sophomore season, he was sensational for a Lions defense that looked like a completely different unit in the early stages of 2024.

Over roughly four-and-a-half games last season, Hutchinson led the NFL in sacks (7½) and pressures (45) and was destroying opposing tackles.

And he worked for it, too.

“You would not know he’s the caliber player that he is by the way he carries himself. The way he works, his attention to detail in meetings, the way he helps people, the way he wants to be pushed and coached hard,” Sheppard said. “You start to get to a certain level, and people think those guys at the top echelon and tier of the league, they’re tapped out (with their potential), it’s all over.

“Most of the guys that’s really special, they never even have that thought in their mind. They want to be coached hard, they want to be pushed. The better the player, the harder you gotta work to push and coach those guys.”

But what looked like a special season in the making all came to an end in a blowout win at Dallas, as his leg collided with defensive tackle Alim McNeill, ending his season. He had surgery at a Dallas-area hospital immediately after being carted off the field in an air cast.

He maintained that he’d make it back for the Super Bowl if Detroit got that far, but he didn’t get the chance to find out after Detroit lost to the Washington Commanders in the divisional round.

“I’m sitting here just imagining what this guy went through, what he worked on to get back in case they made it to the end last year and didn’t,” Rodgers said. “Then to see where he is right now is just — this guy, he’s a trooper.”

Sheppard made a note of Hutchinson’s perseverance, saying there is not a “more resilient, mentally tough guy.” He’s hesitant to make sweeping generalizations about how quickly Hutchinson will continue to progress — “You have to put on pads and play real football,” he said — but his belief in the player’s mental makeup, combined with what he’s seen on the field to this point in the offseason program, is certainly encouraging.

“I’m gonna be hesitant to speak out on any projections and things like that I have with Hutch, but I have full faith in the player because I know who he is outside of ability,” Sheppard said. “I know who he is and I know if anybody wants things for Hutch, it’s him. So he’s going to make sure he’s back at the bar that he’s set for himself.”

We’re still a few months away from seeing Hutchinson in pads, but at every checkpoint along the way, all signs have pointed to him still being the same ol’ Hutch.

“I’m elated to have him out there on the grass,” Sheppard said.