The Detroit Lions have waived sixth-round rookie Ahmed Hassanein with an injury settlement, according to a team press release.
Here’s what that means:
Hassanein is now subject to the waiver wire process, but with an injury designation, it’s unclear if any team would be willing to claim him. He would have to join that team’s 53-man roster immediately, and given that he’s expected to miss significant time with a pectoral injury, it seems somewhat doubtful he’ll be claimed.
If Hassanein clears waivers, he’ll be a free agent. He would be free to sign anywhere he pleases, but, again, he’s injured. There is also a fairly common path he could take back to the Lions. After the length of the injury settlement—which is agreed upon between the player and team based on how long he’s expected to miss with the injury—plus an additional three weeks, Hassanein could re-sign with the Lions. So if the Lions expect the rookie defensive end to miss six weeks, they could sign him after nine weeks. There are often unofficial agreements between player and team to reunite after injury settlements. The Lions have done this with Morice Norris and C.J. Moore in the past.
All of that being said, if the Lions wanted to keep Hassanein, it’s very strange that Detroit opted to use this strategy rather than use one of their two IR-to-return spots they could have used at cutdowns. It’s possible the Lions wanted to save their maximum of eight IR-to-return designations for the entire season after they almost exhausted all of them last season. Still, with their initial roster cuts reducing the team to 50 players—three fewer than needed—this is a bit of a puzzling move.
Lions general manager Brad Holmes is expected to speak later this week, and he’ll likely provide an explanation for the move.
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