‘Wow, I’m literally playing an NFL football game;’ What former Boise State star said after first preseason game

Defensive lineman Ahmed Hassanein drafted in sixth round by Detroit Lions

Detroit Lions defensive lineman Ahmed Hassanein. | Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

When Ahmed Hassanein received a phone call from Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell during the 2025 NFL Draft, the former Boise State defensive lineman got emotional. 

“I will die for you, coach,” Hassanein famously told Campbell. “I just want you to believe in me. I just wanted you to believe in me, coach. I’ll die on that field for you. I promise I will.” 

The Lions pulled the trigger on the 6-foot-2, 275-pound Hassanein in the sixth round, hoping his motor and passion would translate to the NFL. 

The NFL preseason kicked off on Thursday with the Hall of Fame Game, and Hassanein made an impact with four total tackles in the Lions’ 34-7 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. 

Here are the highlights of Hassanein’s postgame meeting with the media. 

On his NFL debut 

“It felt really good to be out there. It was almost a (sense of) disbelief for me. I cried at the beginning of the game just because I couldn’t believe there was someone like me who came so far and went through what I went through to just be here.

“I soaked it all in, and just looking at the field I’m like ‘Wow, I’m literally playing an NFL football game.’ It was just unreal to me. I take pride in that, and I’m just going to do the best I can for my team.”

On in-game growth

“At the end of the day, football is football, but there’s a lot of talented people (out there). But for me, I just try to play my game. I just try to do what I can for my team, and try to make a play. … The more I play, the more I’m confident, and the more I’m going to make plays. Especially for someone like me who hasn’t been playing football for that long, just taking it one play at a time and keep growing.

“One thing that popped up to me is we can’t watch film on the sideline. In college, you can watch film on the sideline. In the NFL, you can’t. So I was like ‘Whoa, really?’ So that was a new thing that I learned.”

On four-tackle performance, special teams role 

“The one thing I’m proud of is that I’m playing free. I’m not afraid to make mistakes. I just want to grow, I want to learn. … And I also really want to do my role on special teams, I really want to grow in that. I played a lot of special teams today. In Boise, I never played special teams. In here, I want to learn how to play special teams because I want to help the team as much as I can.”