On Friday, the Detroit Lions announced they had signed four of their seven drafted players from the 2025 NFL Draft. One of those players was defensive end Ahmed Hassanein, the first Egyptian-native player to have ever been drafted in the NFL.
On the NFL’s transaction list for Friday, Hassanein showed up as a roster exemption, as an international player. In short, that means he does not count against Detroit’s 90-man roster limit for the time being.
Why does Ahmed Hassanein qualify for the International Player exemption?
This is because of the International Player Pathway (IPP) program, an effort to help foreign players get a shot at the NFL.