Jaguars vs Lions: Hutchinson vs Walker is an overblown story

The Jacksonville Jaguars have been doing a lot of things the right way over the last handful of years. Their rebuild has led to them winning the AFC South in 2022 and ultimately having a big playoff win over the Los Angeles Chargers.

Trent Baalke has made his share of mistakes but he has also done a good job around those mistakes. No GM in the NFL is free of doing something wrong here and there.

Baalke made the decision to take Trevor Lawrence with the number one pick in the 2021 NFL Draft. However, he doesn't get credit for that one because the other 31 GMs in the league would have done the same thing. Coming out of Clemson, he was a can't-miss prospect. He hasn't failed.

On the flip side, his first selection a year later was a bit more controversial. They had the number one overall pick once again which means they were the worst team in the league two years in a row.

The Jacksonville Jaguars made a decision at the top of the 2022 NFL Draft.

There wasn't a generational player at the top of this draft so he had a choice to make. He also didn't need to consider a quarterback because of the fact that they had Lawrence.

With the first pick, they selected raw prospect Travon Walker. That meant that they left Aidan Hutchinson for the Detroit Lions to take second overall.

Hutchinson had a much better rookie season than Walker but that was predictable. The former was much more NFL-ready than the latter but didn't have the same ceiling.

It is on the Jaguars to help Walker reach that ceiling. Don't be surprised if it goes either way at this point.

With all of this in mind, it is irrelevant right now. People are making Hutchinson vs Walker a thing because the two teams are meeting in a preseason game.

Yes, a meaningless preseason game between two teams in opposite conferences. It is a non-story. If Hutchinson truly likes being with the franchise that hasn't won a playoff game in his lifetime, good for him. The Jaguars don't need that.

People consider the Jaguars a laughingstock type of team because of their history in the league but they have been much better than the Lions.

None of that matters though in the year 2023. Hopefully, this game just concludes with both teams staying healthy as they both have a lot to prove this season (for different reasons).

Both Walker and Hutchinson have great careers ahead of them. Both of them deserve to just have their own careers.