As players cleaned out their lockers after the season, McNeill acknowledged the early uncertainty about his recovery timeline.
"As far as time wise, I have no clue," McNeill said. "I'm just taking it day by day right now. I'm just going through the process right now."
The recovery timeline from an ACL tear can range from 9-12 months. It's unknown if McNeill had any other damage to his knee that may impact his rehab and recovery time, but time will tell where he is there as the offseason progresses.
Doctor confirms inevitable about Alim McNeill
Down in New Orleans for the Super Bowl, Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press caught up with Dr. David Chao of Sports Injury Central on radio row to talk about the long list of injuries the Lions had this season.
It's not a revelation that the timing of McNeill's injury automatically casts his status for the start of next season into doubt. Rooted in when the injury took place, Chao pointed point to McNeil as the biggest concern he has among the Lions' injuries.
"Alim McNeill’s the biggest worry. I think that’s gonna be tough to be ready for the start of the season,” Dr. Chao said. “Tough, not impossible, but if you can get him back for the second part of the season to be himself, that would be pretty good. So that’s what the hope has to be.”
The Lions tend to show a lot of caution with players who are recovering from a major injury, which there's nothing wrong with, and McNeill will surely be no different. He will be eased into practice activity when he's deemed ready for that step, and his return to the playing field may be pushed to as late as plausible.
With McNeill possibly not being at full strength until later in the season in mind, defensive tackle stands to be somewhere on the radar in free agency and/or the draft.
