The Lions kept their starters out of Thursday’s game against the Bengals and that gave players further down the depth chart a chance to grab the spotlight.
Defensive end Ahmed Hassanein did just that. The 2025 sixth-round pick did not get off the practice squad last season, but he has regularly drawn good notices in practice this summer and his pass rushing skills were put to good use against Cincinnati.
Hassanein’s first snap on Thursday resulted in a sack of Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow and he added a strip-sack of Josh Johnson in the third quarter of the game.
“It was great to see,” head coach Dan Campbell said, via the team’s website. “I don’t really feel like I’m surprised. I felt like he’d come out and make plays. Just the nature of the way he’s been practicing and some of the things he’s able to do you’d feel like would translate certainly into this first preseason game. It was good to see. He just plays maximum effort and he’s disruptive.”
Aidan Hutchinson, D.J. Wonnum, and second-round pick Derrick Moore did not play on Thursday, so Hassanein still has some work to do to find a place in the lineup come September. More performances like he had against the Bengals won’t hurt his chances of earning one.
