The Detroit Lions started their 21-day injury evaluation clock on star defensive tackle Alim McNeill on Wednesday, as the team gauges his health and attempts to determine when he could return. While it would be a bit unusual to see a player returning from a long-term injury work through the acclimation process quickly, Lions coaches have raved about where he’s at physically, and on Friday, coach Dan Campbell said the chances of him playing against the Cincinnati Bengals this Sunday were 50/50.
“We’ve
talked about it. I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know, man,” Campbell said on Friday. “I think right now, it’s probably 50/50. I know he wants to play, but we want to be smart, too. So this’ll be one of those decisions we’ll probably make after practice.”
McNeill has been limited in both his practices this week as the Lions work to get him adjusted back to game action, but the sports science team has collected a lot of data on his health, and coaches appear to like what they’ve seen.
“We got a lot of data on him right now,” Campbell continued. “Certainly (we’ll consider), what he says—How does he feel? What’s his comfort level? Confidence? But also being smart with it. We kind of worked him in on Wednesday, and he got a lot more reps yesterday, and today he’s going to get more reps, but it won’t be near as many. And that’s really where we’re at with him.”
It’s common for coaches to want to see a full practice out of a player before returning him from an injury list, and Campbell, alluding to the fact he’ll see even less work on Friday, suggests McNeill won’t get a full practice this week. But there could still be value in returning McNeill, even if he’s not ready to contribute at full capacity just yet.
“One of the biggest ways is just seeing the guy and being around him,” Campbell said of McNeill helping rookie Tyleik Williams improve his game. “You can only learn so much from a coach. You work the craft, you teach them. Here’s the scheme, here’s the technique. But coaches can’t always go out and physically show you exactly what you’re doing in real time. A guy like Mac or (Aidan) Hutch(enson) or some of these (other veterans can show him): this is what it needs to look like. This is what it looks like. I think every player, another good player’s back in the fold, and you watch how they work, perform, how they use their body, their mechanics, you start to mimic some of those things into your own game, because you can see it. You see it every day on tape, you see it on the field. So that’s where I think it really can help.”
The Lions will hold their final practice of the week on Friday afternoon, and the injury report will likely be released between 3:30 and 4 p.m. ET. It’s likely we’ll get a clearer picture on McNeill’s status then.
