The Detroit Lions are clearly prioritizing rewarding "their own", as in player they've drafted and developed. To that end, they gave defensive tackle Alim McNeill a four-year, $97 million contract extension with a total of $55 million guaranteed last October. At the time he was, and he still is, the fourth-highest paid defensive tackle in the NFL by total money and annual average.
Then in Week 15 against the Buffalo Bills, McNeill suffered a torn ACL. Given how late in the season his injury came, he is a lock to not be ready for the start of the season in September. He'll probably start the season on the PUP list, which means he'd miss at least the first four games. With that in mind, Tim Twentyman of the team website most recently tabbed McNeill's return timeline as "late October or November."
A third-round pick in 2021, Brad Holmes' first draft as Lions' general manager, McNeill has become a core part of the defense and Pro Football Focus has graded him out as top-10 defensive tackle in each of the last two seasons. He also missed four games late in the 2023 season with a knee sprain.
Analyst laments big contract the Lions may come to regret doling out
Gary Davenport of Bleacher Report has named the most overpaid player in the NFL at each position, and at defensive tackle he went with McNeill.
"The 2024 season was the most successful in the history of the Detroit Lions, at least in terms of regular-season wins. But not long after signing defensive tackle Alim McNeill to a four-year, $97 million contract, he tore his ACL."
"McNeill is a quality run defender who flashes occasionally as a pass-rusher. But he's never had more than five sacks in a season and has just 11.5 for his career. Players making upward of $25 million a season are expected to be game-wreckers. And just when he was showing some potential to be one, he tore up his knee."
"The longer it takes him to recapture his past form, the worse this contract is going to look."
McNeill carries a reasonable cap hit of just over $6.1 million this year, before cap hits of $28.96 million (2026), $27.72 million (2027) and $29.2 million (2028). Most of his $23.85 million base salary is already guaranteed to him ($19.85 million), with the remaining $4 million as well as $3 million of his 2027 compensation coming due on the third day of the 2026 league year.
So as a practical matter, the Lions are attached to McNeill through 2026 before they could palatably move on if they wanted to.
There's was never much doubt the Lions were going to give McNeill a fairly lucrative contract extension. But they probably didn't have to make him one of the five highest- paid defensive tackles in the league, and doing so came with the idea the resume he was building would justify that investment.
A delayed start to the 2025 season, coming off a major injury, means a real return on that big investment in McNeill going to be delayed in-kind. There's also chance a full return on that investment never comes.
