Preseason viewing guide: 10 players to focus on as Lions open preseason against Bengals
Allen Park — It’s been more than 200 days since the Detroit Lions have played a football game. On Thursday, the team returns to action for their preseason opener against the Bengals in Cincinnati.
Outside of the small percentage of fans who have attended a training camp practice, this will be the first chance most get to lay eyes on the 2026 squad. Well, at least the ones who will play. Many starters aren’t expected to suit up for the contest.
Still, there’s plenty at stake, as dozens of players are fighting for jobs and roles. It would be reasonable to highlight any of them, but we narrowed the list down to 10 that we feel merit extra attention.
Defensive lineman Ahmed Hassanein (No. 99)
During Tuesday’s practice, I joked with another reporter that I could turn “Players to Watch” into a comedy bit, simply listing Hassanein 10 times.
The 2025 sixth-round pick is popular enough that the hyperbole might have gone over well, but I wouldn’t want to leave you wanting for meaningful information.
Here are the two most important things you need to know about Hassanein:
First, he’s playing a different position this year. He’s still an edge defender, but more of a big end. What does that mean? Instead of lining up wide of the offensive tackle’s outside shoulder, he’s now more directly over the tackle pre-snap, typically between a defensive tackle and a wider, outside linebacker along the line of scrimmage.
This is a better use of Hassanein’s strengths, which include his burst, power and snap-to-whistle relentlessness. It also de-emphasizes bend, which is logical given his subpar ankle flexibility.
The second thing to note is his body transformation. He’s around the same weight — 275 pounds — but far leaner. He told me he dropped from 36% body fat to 19% after spending the offseason working with Aidan Hutchinson’s trainer.
The results from those two changes have been impactful. Hassanein has been one of the top defensive playmakers in camp, working with the second- and third-team groupings. Now, he’ll have an opportunity to do it against a different opponent, with an aim of preserving the momentum he’s built toward claiming a roster spot.
Offensive tackle Blake Miller (No. 76)
Detroit’s first-round pick is on track to be a Week 1 starter, having taken nearly all the first-team reps at right tackle since the start of camp.
Miller’s performance has been up and down. That’s hardly unusual for a rookie, even a first-rounder. I’ve been comparing it to another former Lions offensive lineman, Larry Warford, who had a brutal first camp while regularly working against Ndamukong Suh and Nick Fairley.
With Warford, those reps battle-tested him early, so by the time he got to the regular season, he was ready for anything that was thrown his way. He was really good for Detroit across four seasons before going to New Orleans and earning a trio of Pro Bowl selections.