5 Detroit Lions Roster Bubble Players Who Stood Out in Preseason Loss to Bengals
Detroit’s preseason opener ended the way most exhibition games do: with a final score nobody will remember by Labor Day. The Cincinnati Bengals beat the Lions 16-14 Thursday night at Paycor Stadium, with Joe Flacco throwing a second-half touchdown and Evan McPherson hitting three field goals to seal it. None of that will matter by September.
What will matter is what Dan Campbell’s staff saw from the players fighting for the back end of the Lions 53-man roster. Preseason football exists for exactly this — unpredictable reps against real NFL competition, the first live look coaches get at how a depth chart might actually shake out. Here are five roster bubble players who made their case Thursday night.
Ahmed Hassanein, DE — Locking Down a Roster Spot
No Lion made a louder statement than Hassanein. On his very first defensive snap of the season, he got skinny around left guard Dalton Risner and dropped Joe Burrow for a 9-yard loss, exactly as Hassanein said afterward he intended to do. “I kept saying, ‘I’m going to sack Joe Burrow,'” Hassanein said after the game, crediting his faith for the moment.
He wasn’t done. Hassanein added a third-quarter strip sack of backup quarterback Josh Johnson — the Bengals recovered the fumble, but the pressure was the story. He finished with two sacks and four total tackles, and the Detroit News noted he also helped stuff a third-down run in the first half alongside linebacker Trevor Nowaske.
The sixth-round pick out of Boise State missed most of his rookie year with a pectoral injury and spent the year largely on the practice squad. Campbell wasn’t shocked by the breakout. “I don’t really feel like I’m surprised,” the coach said, per Detroit’s team site. “I felt like he’d come out and make plays.” With Detroit’s edge rotation already stacked behind Aidan Hutchinson, DJ Wonnum and Tyler Lacy, Hassanein looks like a near-lock to make the 53-man roster — and a real threat to push for more snaps if he keeps this up.
Jacob Saylors, RB — Seizing His Opportunity
With Jahmyr Gibbs, Isiah Pacheco and Sione Vaki all held out, Saylors got the workload nearly every Lions running back competing for a roster spot would want. He delivered. Yahoo Sports reported that Saylors was Detroit’s leading rusher and receiver at halftime, accounting for just over half of the team’s 165 total yards through two quarters.
The 26-year-old has bounced around the league since going undrafted out of East Tennessee State in 2023 — stops with the Bengals, Falcons, Giants and Browns before landing with Detroit off the UFL’s St. Louis Battlehawks, where he led the league in rushing in 2024. Thursday looked like a continuation of that trend: physical, versatile touches both on the ground and out of the backfield.
The RB4 competition behind Gibbs, David Montgomery and Craig Reynolds is far from settled, and Jabari Small will get his own look before final cuts. But Saylors made the first real move in that battle.
Nick Whiteside, CB — Confirming the Camp Buzz
Whiteside has been one of the names buzzing loudest out of Allen Park all camp, and turning good practice reps into a good game isn’t always automatic. He managed it. Detroit’s team site described Whiteside logging a pass breakup on a deep shot while starting outside opposite Rakestraw, and Pride of Detroit’s snap-count breakdown flagged it as one of the cleanest individual reps of the night.
The stat sheet won’t wow anyone — Whiteside finished with modest tackle numbers — but the tape reportedly showed a physical corner sticking with Cincinnati’s receivers throughout. That matters more than raw counting stats this time of year.
With D.J. Reed and Rock Ya-Sin viewed as the presumptive starting outside corners, Whiteside is building a case to be the top reserve — a case that got stronger in an unfortunate way when Ennis Rakestraw left the game with a second-quarter injury.
Ennis Rakestraw’s Injury Adds Urgency to the Cornerback Race
Rakestraw went down early in the second quarter making a tackle on Cincinnati running back Tahj Brooks and did not return. It was the second straight training camp scare for the third-year corner, who lost all of last season to a shoulder injury. The early word was encouraging: Campbell told reporters after the game the injury looked like a contusion, not something major, and Rakestraw echoed that himself. “I’m good … it’s nothing major,” he told reporters. “Just a bruise.”
A follow-up report from Pride of Detroit added that X-rays showed no structural damage, with Campbell attributing the injury to an arm contusion rather than anything more serious. Even if Rakestraw is fine, the sequence — combined with Whiteside’s performance — makes the cornerback competition behind Reed and Ya-Sin one of the more interesting position battles left in Detroit’s camp.
The Defensive Line Depth Chart Got More Crowded
Hassanein wasn’t the only Lions defensive lineman making life difficult for Cincinnati’s offense Thursday. Detroit recorded just two sacks as a team, but the pressure was more consistent than that number suggests, with multiple undrafted and depth-chart hopefuls flashing early. That kind of across-the-board disruption from the front seven is exactly what Detroit’s coaching staff wants to see with roster cuts on the horizon and a rotation battle still unsettled behind the starters.
Preseason Week 1: Detroit Lions Key Stats vs. Bengals
| Category | Detroit Lions | Cincinnati Bengals |
|---|---|---|
| Final Score | 14 | 16 |
| Total Offense | 274 yards | 256 yards |
| Result | Loss | Win |
Data per Yardbarker’s postgame recap.
What’s Next
The Lions return to action Saturday, August 22, hosting the Washington Commanders at Ford Field. Expect a longer look at players like Hassanein and Saylors, and a clearer picture of how the cornerback depth chart is shaping up behind Reed and Ya-Sin — especially if Rakestraw needs any additional time to return to full speed.
