3. One young defender who has caught Sheppard’s eye early is sixth-round rookie Ahmed Hassanein.
“I’m excited for him to get the pads on because I don’t think his game can be seen until the pads are on,” Sheppard said. “The way he plays. The mentality he plays with. The effort he plays with. He’s everything we are about here.”
Hassanein recorded 33 tackles for loss and 22.0 sacks the last two seasons combined at Boise State. He’s getting second-team reps early in camp and has looked pretty good.
4. Aidan Hutchinson is coming off a broken leg that forced him to miss most of last season. Some wonder if Hutchinson will be the same player coming off a major injury. Don’t consider Sheppard to be one of those doubters.
“I see a better player than we had last year,” he said. “You might go, ‘Woah.’ But that’s the same thing I said when I saw him out there. I’m like. ‘Woah.’ The way he works and attacks his rehab. The week after the surgery he’s in here trying to work out and things like that.
“But I see a better player, quite frankly, and I’m looking for Hutch to have a big season and he’s one of the pillars of the defense.”
Hutchinson was leading the NFL in sacks and quarterback pressures when he was injured Week 6 last year in Dallas.
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