Amid all the injuries the Detroit Lions suffered on the defensive side of the ball last season, losing defensive tackle Alim McNeill to a torn ACL was one of the biggest. It also happened in December, Week 15 against the Buffalo Bills, which has naturally created a question about his status for the start of next season.
At locker cleanout after the playoff loss to the Commanders, McNeill acknowledged how he had never suffered an injury quite like that before.
"This is the first time I've ever had a season-ending injury and first time having surgery so it was all new stuff to me", McNeill said..."Now that we're done, I gotta get back on the field as fast as I can. I'm not gonna rush or anything but I'm gonna push myself for sure."
The timing of the injury was doubly not great, also just a couple months after the Lions signed McNeill to a four-year, $97 million contract extension.
Dan Campbell confirms expected recovery timeline for Alim McNeill
Campbell took his turn with reporters at the league meetings in Florida on Tuesday morning. He was asked about McNeill's return timeline, and gave the expected answer.
"Yeah, it’s tough to say right now when Mac will be back", Campbell said. "ACLs are all a little bit different. Obviously, it’s not going to be training camp or probably even the early part of the season, but we will get him back. And I think the big thing here is to get him back healthy where he feels good, he can move, obviously protect himself. But still be productive, and I think more than anything, you want him getting back to where he felt like he was before the injury. That’s important, at least for this year, because that will be plenty.”
Training camp will be a little over seven months removed from the injury for McNeill, and Week 1 will be just shy of nine months out from it. The general recovery timeline from a torn ACL is 9-12 months, and it's unclear if McNeill suffered any other damage to his knee that may impact his recovery.
Right or wrong and seemingly to a fault at times, the Lions slow play it when it comes to players coming back from major injuries. McNeill's recovery will be individually assessed of course, but it feels like a safe bet he'll miss at least the first month of the 2025 season.
