When we last heard about Detroit Lions’ 2025 sixth-round pick Ahmed Hassanein, the former Boise State defensive end had suffered a pectoral injury, resulting in the team waiving him with an injury settlement. Lions coach Dan Campbell said Hassanein was going to miss “a while” with the injury, although it was still a surprise to see the Lions cut him.
Lions general manager Brad Holmes provided some clarity shortly thereafter, indicating that the team fully expects to re-sign him once the defender gets healthy.
“What we wanted to do is what is going to be the best path for him to get him back to the practice field when he’s healthy, and the injury settlement was the way to go,” Holmes explained. “Especially him specifically with where he was at in his football career. […] But, bottom line, he’s going to be a Detroit Lion, he’s going to be back on the football field playing this year.”
We haven’t gotten an update from the team since, and he remains a free agent. However, Hassanein provided a promising update to his own condition via an Instagram story posted to his feed on Tuesday.
Obviously, any level of bench pressing coming off a pectoral injury is a good sign of progress. It’s still unclear where he is in his rehab and strength conditioning, or even how long into his injury settlement he’s currently in. By league rules, the Lions cannot re-sign Hassanein until the entire length of the agreed-upon injury settlement (currently unknown) plus an additional three weeks. Hassanein was waived on August 26, meaning it has already been eight weeks since the transaction.
The Lions don’t have a pressing need at defensive end, with the strong play they’ve gotten from Al-Quadin Muhammad, Tyler Lacy, and Pat O’Connor—all opposite Aidan Hutchinson. Defensive end Marcus Davenport is also expected back shortly after Detroit’s bye week. Still, getting Hassanein back means re-starting his development as a raw, physically-gifted defender.
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