The Detroit Lions reunited with rookie edge rusher Ahmed Hassanein a few days back, but the Lions weren't the only team interested in his services.
Hassanein told reporters that every other team in the NFL called with interest in adding him to their practice squad, but he rebuffed them all.
The sixth-round pick said he was never going anywhere but back to the Lions, which shows an incredible level of loyalty to the team that drafted him.
“My agent was kinda handling all that,” Hassanein said, per Ryan Mathews of Pride of Detroit. “He was telling me, ‘Oh, 31 (teams) was wanting you on their practice squad,’ because I don’t count (on the roster) as a (international) player.
"So I went, ‘Man, I’m not going anywhere. I want to stay here, because these people believe in me, and I’m going to give it all I’ve got.’ Because loyalty is a big thing for me. I’m honored.”
Hassanein appeared in three of the Lions' four preseason games and showed some promise, which led to a fair amount of hype for him ahead of the season.
The rookie finished with five tackles, three run stops and two pressures while also posting Pro Football Focus grades of 73.5 overall, 69.0 in run defense, 74.9 in tackling and 66.3 in the pass-rush.
However, Hassanein suffered a pectoral injury in preseason Week 2 that forced him to miss time. The Lions rolled the dice and waived him with an injury settlement with the hope he would return to the team later in the season.
It was a risky move at the time because not only did the Lions risk losing him to another team, they were also in need of edge rusher depth.
Hassanein will now provide depth to a Lions edge rusher group that has been better than expected this season. Detroit enters Week 11 with 30 sacks, which ranks fourth in the NFL.
Aidan Hutchinson (seven) and Al-Quadin Muhammad (six) havecombined for 13 of those sacks. Detroit will also be welcoming back Marcus Davenport soon, as the veteran was designated to return from injured reserve on Wednesday.
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