Coming into the 2025 season, the Detroit Lions were set to be without one of their most important defenders in Alim McNeill thanks to his lingering recovery from offseason
McNeill, slated for a midseason return, was to be a hopefully elite addition for a team that was looking to make a push for the playoffs and a run to the Super Bowl. Unfortunately, things didn't work out well for either the Lions or McNeill last season.
After his return. McNeill played in 10 games, contributing just 14 total tackles, one sack and one forced fumble to the cause. It wasn't what the Lions or McNeill had hoped for, and there was a good reason for that output. The defender was still getting completely comfortable off his ACL injury recovery.
Entering this season, there are no such concerns lingering for McNeill. Already, he feels as if he is in a much better place physically than he once was.
"I felt like (I was) me personally, mentally and everything. It's just, you know how the body works. It takes time for stuff to come back a little bit and some stuff was not there. No matter how hard I tried to do certain stuff, it just wasn't there yet. It's here now. So I'm not really thinking about last year at all honestly."
Specifically, McNeill feels that familiar old jump in his legs that he hasn't felt in a few seasons, which is fantastic news for 2026.
"I'm me again now. (I've been) explosive and been able to do what I need to do. It's (a) night and day difference between last year and now."
That quote should leave every opponent for the Lions scared heading into this season. The fact that McNeill wasn't even close to himself was a big blow to Detroit's defensive hopes. With a rebound, the Lions could once again get back to the run stopping that made them successful in the years before. Clogging the middle could help the Lions do everything better on defense.
McNeill believes team was humbled by a frustrating 2025 season
On the field, McNeil wasn't able to help the Lions as well as he wanted to achieve a measure of consistency on defense. Like his other teammates, he had to watch as the team faded from playoff form late in the season. It was a tough pill to swallow for the veteran star.
Positively, though, McNeill believes the experience missing the postseason for the first time since 2022 should help the Lions stay motivated and come back stronger than ever this year. Even though hard work remains a franchise constant, McNeill sees the added hunger and purpose manifesting itself on the field already.
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"(Missing the playoffs) just kind of humbled us in a way. (Improving) was going to be our focus regardless whether we won the Super Bowl last year or we didn't. We were going to come back. We were going to be ready to go this year regardless. But yeah, 1,000% (it helped motivation). It just added that much more. We know what's at stake. We know what type of players we have, what coaches we have. We know we have a high standard for ourselves here and we just didn't live up to that, but we're going to, so I'm not worried."
Many pundits may believe McNeill's best days are behind him, but it's clear that nobody should sleep on him or the Lions this season. There could be a good reason for his less than desired impact last year, and the page could soon be turned on that frustration in a big way.
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