The Real Alim McNeill Is Back
Alim McNeill wants to forget last season ever happened. Can’t blame him.
The Lions defensive tackle was on top of the world in October of 2024 after signing a four-year, $97 million contract that made him one of the highest-paid defensive tackles in football. He was coming off an impressive 2023 season and still wreaking havoc early in 2024. Then the ACL went. Everything changed.
The injury cost him the final three games of the 2024 season, a playoff push, and the first seven games of 2025. When he finally returned to the field, he wasn’t the same player who earned that massive payday.
The Numbers Tell the Story
After averaging 3.2 pressures per game in 2024, McNeill managed just 2.3 last season. In 10 games, he put up 14 tackles, two tackles for loss, and a single sack. By his own admission, it wasn’t up to his standard.
The frustrating part? His mind was right, but his body wasn’t cooperating.
“It’s just how the body works. It takes time for stuff to come back a little bit,” McNeill said on Friday at the Meijer Performance Center in Allen Park. “Some stuff was just not there, no matter how hard I tried to do certain stuff, it just wasn’t there yet.”
Back to the Blueprint
This offseason, McNeill is going back to what made him elite in his breakout 2023 season. Remember when he cut 13% body fat to become a pass-rushing terror? That year, he put up a career-high 5.0 sacks and a 78.6 pass-rushing grade from PFF. The diet, the workouts, the sleep regimen. It’s all back after losing last offseason to rehab.
“Just to be that dynamic, explosive player that I know I can be,” McNeill said. “That’s what I’ve been working on this offseason, and I feel amazing. So I don’t have any doubts about that.”
“It’s a night and day difference between last year and now,” he added.
Proving It All Over Again
McNeill doesn’t want to think about last year anymore. Hell, who does? All he can think about is proving to everyone that he’s still the elite player who earned that contract extension two years ago.
“I don’t think about last year. So, yeah, 1000 percent (I want to prove myself),” McNeill said. “I don’t remember last season. I don’t want to think about last season. So, yeah, 1000 percent. I’ve been losing sleep over it.”
That’s the mentality this defense needs from their highest-paid interior lineman. Forget last season happened. Show up in Honolulu Blue ready to wreck offensive lines again.
Think McNeill bounces back to his old dominant self, or are we being too optimistic about ACL recoveries? Let me know in the comments.
