Lions defensive tackle Alim McNeill didn’t make his first appearance of the 2025 season until October and making a full return from his 2024 torn ACL took longer than that.
McNeill suffered the injury late in the 2024 season and returned to the lineup in Week 7 last year. McNeill had 14 tackles and a sack in 10 starts, which was less impactful than his pre-injury contributions to the defense.
McNeill said last Friday that he never felt 100 percent after coming back to action last year, but is now feeling back to being the player he was prior to hurting his knee.
“It’s just how the body works. It takes time for stuff to come back a little bit,” McNeill said, via the team’s website. “Some stuff was just not there no matter how hard I tried to do certain stuff, it just wasn’t there yet. It’s here now.”
McNeill had 57 tackles, 13 tackles for loss, 17 quarterback hits and 8.5 sacks in the 27 games before his injury. A return to that level of play would be just what the Lions need up front on defense as they try to plot their way back to the playoffs in 2026.
