WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Brad Holmes and Dan Campbell have made it a priority to keep Aidan Hutchinson actively involved in the operation since suffering his broken tibia and fibula. The Lions general manager and head coach have had weekly check-ins with the star edge defender, making sure he knows he’s just as part of the operation as anyone else, even when stuck in recovery. “You’re still a key cog of this operation. Just checking in on him, seeing him in the training room and seeing how he is, getting all the weekly updates,” Holmes said. “I don’t think he ever -- hopefully, he never felt like he was separated from the team. When you get a major injury, and you’re out there rehabbing, as hard as he works and as much as he’s doing extra on his own when nobody is watching, I think from a human standpoint, it’s easy to feel that way. “But just not only with Hutch, but with all of our players that are dealing with injuries. That’s how we want to approach that.” RELATED: Lions expect to exercise Jameson Williams’ fifth-year option Hutchinson recently shared a video of him running at the team facility, and Holmes made sure to say he feels great about where he’s at in this stage of the recovery. He’s also hit the golf course in recent weeks, per social media postings, and is more than five months removed from the injury suffered in Dallas. Holmes made sure to say that he’s not a soothsayer regarding his timeline, but the general manager has an optimistic viewpoint on Hutchinson’s recovery. “I mean, look, we don’t have a crystal ball on anything; we’re just gonna see where it’s at,” Holmes told reporters at owners meetings. “But I’ve seen enough movement and mobility on running in this stage that I feel very confident about where he’s gonna be at.” The Lions and Hutchinson are said to be in the planning stages of an extension. Hutchinson has a fifth-year option, with the deadline for that decision due on May 1. That puts two seasons left on his rookie contract with the Lions expected to use that flexibility -- one of the easier decisions to make as they evaluate a long-term deal. Holmes made sure to say he feels Hutchinson was one of those four or five elite edge rushers in the league and that they understood the price for those players had only risen. Myles Garrett landed a deal averaging $40 million per season, with Danielle Hunter and Maxx Crosby both topping $35 million on a per-year basis. Hutchinson led the league in about every category a pass rusher could through five games last year. The 2022 first-round pick had a team-high 7.5 sacks and created 45 pressures while remaining one of the league’s pure workhorses in terms of snap counts. And Holmes wants fans to remember that getting Hutchinson back on the defensive line solves a lot of the issues people are worried about. Yes, the Lions need more juice for their pass rush, but with so many extensions due, including a massive one for Hutchinson, they have to manage the situation carefully for now and in the future. “That’s the other thing, I know everybody’s craving about an edge rusher, but we have, in our opinion, one of the elite guys,” Holmes said. “How many elite edge rushers are in the NFL? Four or five? What do you think, is our guy one of them? Well, if it’s four or five elite edge rushers in this league -- how many teams are in this league? Thirty-two, right? Usually, two defensive ends are on the field at the same time, right? So that’s 64. You know what I mean? So because we have at least one of them, you’ve got to make sure you’re keeping that in context. “Unfortunately, he got hurt last year, and I know how it goes. Psychologically, you think that a guy gets hurt, guy gets a big-time injury, he’s not on the team anymore. He wasn’t here at the end, he’s not on the team anymore. No. Hutch, we feel great about where he’s at in his process, so he’s going to help in the pass rush.”