Lions provide brutal injury update on Ahmed Hassanein in latest blow to defense

Detroit Lions rookie Ahmed Hassanein is set to miss some significant time this season, as head coach Dan Campbell told reporters on Monday that Hassanein's injury is to his pectoral.

Campbell didn't say whether the Lions were considering placing Hassanein on the IR, but also couldn't say whether the rookie would be able to suit up at all for his rookie season due to the injury. The injury was sustained by Hassanein in the Lions' preseason loss to the Miami Dolphins this past weekend.

Hassanein now joins a lengthy list of defenders for Detroit who won't be able to see a snap of regular season football from the field thanks to brutal injuries suffered in the offseason and preseason. Ennis Rakestraw, Alim McNeil, and Levi Onwuzurike are just a few defenders that the Lions are doing to have to do without - now, add Hassanein to the list.

Hassanein might miss entire rookie season with pectoral injury

Hassanein, the Lions' sixth round pick out of Boise State, had been making some noise in training camp. He had told reporters that studying Aid an Hutchinson's tape was beneficial to him growing his own game, and coaches had spoken to how raw but talented Hassanein was as a rookie coming in to compete for a spot on the 53-man roster.

With this injury news, the Lions are once again down a pass rusher. Hutchinson is healthy and ready to make his return in Week 1 against the Green Bay Packers, but the team now has to really hope that Marcus Davenport, Al-Quadin Muhammad, and Nate Lynn are able to fill in the gaps alongside Hutchinson with Hassanein potentially down for quite some time.

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Additionally, this injury raises even more questions around a potential timeline for the Lions to bring back Za'Darius Smith this season. The free agent defensive end was great for Detroit after getting traded to the team last season, but has since been waiting to land with a team this offseason. He's hoped that team is the Lions.

With Hassanein down, we could see Isaac Ukwu make the cut on the 53-man roster behind Davenport to kick off this season. He was extremely impressive in the Lions' loss to the Dolphins, and could help provide some insurance behind Davenport as he's been injury prone.

Hopefully, Hassanein is able to make it back to the team later this season after fully recovering from this injury. If not, we'll just have to wait and see what's in store for the ex-Cross Fit champion in 2026.

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