{"id":84315,"date":"2025-07-22T22:26:13","date_gmt":"2025-07-22T22:26:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/84315\/"},"modified":"2025-07-22T22:26:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T22:26:13","slug":"detroit-lions-gm-alim-mcneill-could-return-earlier-than-expected","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/84315\/","title":{"rendered":"Detroit Lions GM: Alim McNeill could return \u2018earlier than expected"},"content":{"rendered":"

There has never been a clear timetable for the return of Detroit Lions<\/a> defensive tackle Alim McNeill. The star defensive tackle tore his ACL on Dec. 15 in a game against the Buffalo Bills<\/a>. The typical return for a torn ACL can take anywhere from eight to 12 months, and it tends to be closer to that 12-month end of the spectrum for players the stature of McNeill. <\/p>\n

When asked back in April, coach Dan Campbell only provided vague expectations for McNeill\u2019s return. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s tough to say right now when Mac will be back. ACL\u2019s are all a little bit different. Obviously, it\u2019s not going to be training camp or probably even the early part of the season, but we will get him back,\u201d Campbell said.<\/p>\n

Since then, it\u2019s mostly been quiet. McNeill has been spotted walking around the sidelines during training camp practices, but not much else. That is, until Tuesday. <\/p>\n

Lions general manager Brad Holmes joined SiriusXM live from training camp, and provided a short, but optimistic update on McNeill<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201c… still having Alim on his way back, which I think that, you know, that has a potential to be a little bit earlier than expected,\u201d Holmes said. \u201cBecause he\u2019s doing great right now.\u201d <\/p>\n

McNeill was quickly becoming one of the best defensive tackles in football over the past couple of years. In 2023, he produced PFF\u2019s sixth-highest grade (88.5) among defensive tackles, tallied 5.0 sacks, and 34 pressures. Last year, he took his pass rush to a new level, earning 45 pressures and a 77.1 PFF pass rush grade (13th). <\/p>\n

Holmes comments were made while he was making a larger point about the confidence in his defensive tackle room, despite the season-ending injury to Levi Onwuzurike. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe were pretty chock-full with expecting Levi to play this year. But, you know, still having a (DJ) Reader, drafting Tyleik Williams, signing Roy Lopez in free agency, and still having Alim on his way back\u2014which I think that, you know, that has a potential to be a little bit earlier than expected, because he\u2019s doing great right now. I feel pretty confident. We feel very confident about that (room).\u201d <\/p>\n

As of now, though, the Lions are a bit shorthanded. Lopez is dealing with a minor foot injury, Mekhi Wingo is on the Physically Unable to Perform list and not expected to return until September, and Brodric Martin left Tuesday\u2019s practice early with a foot injury. Still, Detroit has leaned on players like Pat O\u2019Connor, Raequan Williams, and Chris Smith to help fortify their depth behind Reader and Tyleik Williams. <\/p>\n

And it certainly sounds like the Lions expect McNeill to join them at some point this season, and quite possibly sooner rather than originally expected.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There has never been a clear timetable for the return of Detroit Lions defensive tackle Alim McNeill. The…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":84316,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[57192,7631,1449,49994,27705,27706,57194,54119,204,57191,9321,57193,1232,1539,3009,4158,62,13832,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-84315","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-alim","9":"tag-could","10":"tag-detroit","11":"tag-detroit-lions-injury-report","12":"tag-detroit-lions-news","13":"tag-detroit-lions-quotes","14":"tag-earlier","15":"tag-expected","16":"tag-front-page","17":"tag-gm","18":"tag-lions","19":"tag-mcneill","20":"tag-nfl","21":"tag-of","22":"tag-pride","23":"tag-return","24":"tag-sports","25":"tag-than","26":"tag-united-states","27":"tag-unitedstates","28":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84315\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}