The Detroit Lions were already in less-than ideal shape along the edge, but an injury to rookie edge rusher Ahmed Hassanein leaves the team in an even more precarious spot.
According to head coach Dan Campbell on Monday afternoon, Hassanein, who exited the preseason Week 2 contest early, is dealing with a pec injury that will keep him out "a while."
"(Hassanein is) gonna be down for a while," Campbell told reporters. "He's got a pec."
As if that wasn't bad enough, Campbell wouldn't commit to the rookie coming back at all this season.
"Dan Campbell says he's not sure if (Hassanein) will return at some point this season or not," ESPN's Eric Woodyard reported.
While nobody was expecting Hassanein to light the world on fire in his rookie season, he did show plenty of promise this offseason and is now one less depth option for Detroit to turn to along the edge.
Detroit's depth behind injury-prone Marcus Davenport was already shaky thanks to the injury to Josh Paschal, who may not be ready for the start of the season.
It goes without saying the Lions should be exploring their options in free agency and on the trade market, but the most obvious move to make is to bring back Za'Darius Smith.
Smith has made it quite clear he wants to return to Detroit, and general manager Brad Holmes recently said there is interest in bringing him back. Smith's return would push Davenport to a more ideal part-time role, which would seriously lengthen Detroit's edge rushers room.
Hassanein's injury should serve as even more motivation for the Lions to make something happen with the veteran edge rusher.
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