McNeill continues to rehab a torn ACL from 2024, but is on a promising timeline. How much action will he see in 2025?
Detroit Lions defensive tackle Alim McNeill continues to work through rehab for a torn right ACL he suffered against the Bills in Week 15 of the 2024 NFL season. ACLs are always a wildcard, but they typically take close a calendar year to fully resolve.
There are rare instances where the timeline is considerably shorter—think former Vikings (and Lions) RB Adrian Peterson’s 2012 MVP season just eight months after tearing his ACL, or former Michigan TE Jake Butt’s 6.5 month ACL rehabilitation in 2014. However, those are exceptions, and for each one of those, there are several more who never get back to their old selves following ACL rehab.
The latest news out of Allen Park suggests that McNeill could be on a faster timeline , according to general manager Brad Holmes:
“…still having Alim on his way back—which I think that, you know, that has a potential to be a little bit earlier than expected, because he’s doing great right now.”
That still doesn’t narrow things down much, considering there is no fixed timeline to begin with. However, it’s good news. To me, this doesn’t just tell me that McNeill will see the field sooner, but that he’ll be himself sooner. For a lot of guys, it takes as much as a couple months of play to get back to their full explosion and conditioning, as well as simply trusting their legs again. If McNeill comes back in, say, October instead of December, then we can trust that by December he’ll be in full swing again.
Question of the day: How many games will Alim McNeill play in 2025?
I try not to index on opponent or record when measuring these things, because I’d like to think the Lions (or anyone else) wouldn’t risk an ACL that’s not fully ready to rush someone back for a single game.
My answer: That said, if we look at the Lions’ 2025 schedule , there is a perfectly placed bye week in Week 8, the last week of October. I wouldn’t be surprised if McNeill played either the week before on “Monday Night Football” against the Bucs, or the week after against the Vikings. If he’s ready strength wise but not conditioning wise, then the Bucs game could be a good opportunity for him to see game action again and have an extra week to recover from it. Either way, that would put him at 10-11 games played in 2025.
How many games do you think McNeill will play in 2025? Will he suit up at the one year mark and play just a handful in December? Will he play at all? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.