The Detroit Lions have been well represented thus far in ESPN’s ongoing series of the best players at each position in the NFL. League executives, coaches, and scouts have ranked the top-10 players at running back, cornerback, and edge rusher so far, and a couple of Lions players have earned top-5 recognition: Jahmyr Gibbs placed second among running backs, and Aidan Hutchinson finished fifth among edge defenders.
On Thursday morning, the Worldwide Leader in Sports dropped their fourth installment
in the series, ranking the big men in the middle on defense: defensive tackles. The top names on the list included the likes of Leonard Williams, Jeffery Simmons, Jalen Carter, and Chris Jones—all familiar names who’ve been part of the rankings in previous years. Quinnen Williams, Dexter Lawrence II, and Derrick Brown all returned as part of the top-10 rankings, too. But for yet another season, Detroit’s Alim McNeill was nowhere to be found.
Not in the top 10, not among the honorable mentions, not even in the “also receiving votes” section.
It’s not surprising to see McNeill omitted from the list this offseason. After recovering from an ACL injury suffered in December of 2024, he was limited to 10 games last year, where he recorded just 1.0 sack, a forced fumble, three quarterback hits, and 23 pressures—all of which were career lows since his rookie season. But digging into the rankings from years past as a memory refresher, McNeill has never received even a single vote according to the surveys conducted by ESPN. Not in 2024 after his breakout season, where he became the Lions’ first defensive tackle since Ndamukong Suh to record 5.0 sacks, and not in 2025 after he signed a four-year, $97 million contract extension midseason.
McNeill is currently the league’s eighth-highest-paid defensive tackle, and while Dan Campbell has mentioned that Mac doesn’t have to be “Superman” along Detroit’s defensive line, Campbell and Brad Holmes know he has the ability. Holmes chose to make Aidan Hutchinson and McNeill his cornerstones along the defensive line, and since then, only the former has made a consistently productive impact. An offseason of strength training instead of rehabbing from an ACL injury should make all the difference for McNeill to be prepared and have that breakout season. 2026 is shaping up to be the most important season of McNeill’s career, and maybe it will be the year he finally earns the attention—and adulation—from those around the league.
