The Detroit Lions are going to get a huge boost to their defense when defensive lineman Alim McNeill returns from injury at some point this season.
It remains to be seen, however, when exactly McNeill will return. The only thing we know is that he won't return in the first four games thanks to his being on the physically unable to perform list.
McNeill is recovering from a torn ACL suffered in December. The veteran defender is now nine months removed from the injury and it appears things are moving in the right direction for him.
On Wednesday, Justin Rogers of the Detroit Football Network provided the latest injury update on McNeill, who revealed he is close to 100%.
Alim McNeill injury update
According to Rogers, McNeill said he is at 93-94% in his recovery from the ACL tear. McNeill added that he believes he could play in a game this week, but also noted he understands the smart thing to do is to wait until he's fully recovered.
"McNeill notes that if he needed to suit up and play a game this week, he’s confident he could. He also knows the smart thing to do is finish that last 6-7% of his recovery, particularly strengthening the muscles around the injury to a point that it’s stronger and more stable than it was before he went down," Rogers reported.
Alim McNeill return timeline
As we said earlier, McNeill is definitely going to miss the next two games due to his PUP list status. Once he's designated to return, which could come as early as Week 5, McNeill will have 21 days to be activated.
Pride of Detroit's Jeremy Reisman points out the Lions have historically wanted to see players coming off a major injury turn in a week or two of practice before suiting up.
Thus, he estimates McNeill's earliest possible return will be around mid-October, although he adds that a return in November is "far more likely."
The Lions are not going to rush McNeill, who is incredibly important to the defense this season. Adding to that, Detroit has a lot of money invested in him after giving McNeill a four-year, $97 million contract extension.
With all that in mind, we would guess Week 7 (Oct. 20) against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers is the earliest we'll see McNeill, but if we had to bet, our money is on Week 9 against the Minnesota Vikings, which comes after Detroit's bye week.
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