Alim McNeill
Detroit LionsModel Score
How good he is at what he is supposed to be doing, out of 100. Not a projection of what he will do next, and not a read on his contract. Median is about 70, and a 95 is rare. How it is built →
Season Stats · 10 games
Draft & College
He went about where consensus had him.
Covers the college seasons in our data, which does not always reach back to a player's first year.
Comps
STM Take
Tier 2 (#15) 2023 peak plus tier 3 (#23) 2024 confirms the structural top-20 IDL ceiling exists. The 2024 late-season ACL plus the 2025 tier 8 (#73) post-recovery return puts McNeill in the recovery-context band. The NC State 3rd-round origin plus the Lions' position-specific coaching makes the career résumé strong. The 2026 question is whether McNeill returns to tier 3 territory in his year-two ACL recovery or whether the structural injury wear closes the elite chapter.
McNeill came out of NC State as the Detroit Lions' 3rd-round pick (72nd overall) in 2021 and delivered back-to-back tier 2-3 breakouts in 2023-2024. He tore his ACL in the late 2024 season and missed the start of 2025 before returning. His STTM career runs tier 7 (#55) rookie, tier 6 (#46) in 2022, tier 2 (#15) peak in 2023, tier 3 (#23) in 2024, and tier 8 (#73) in 2025 post-ACL.
Strengths
- Back-to-back top-25 STTM finishes (#15, #23) in 2023-2024 plus the 3rd-round draft pedigree puts him in the outlier-positive class at the position.
- NC State ACC pedigree plus five years of Lions development gives him real structural value as the team's interior anchor.
Concerns
- 2024 late-season ACL plus the 2025 tier 8 (#73) post-recovery return puts the recovery curve at significant downside risk.
- Detroit's broader defensive identity around the Hutchinson primary pass-rush priority puts continued McNeill production partly dependent on team-fit.
What to watch: Whether McNeill returns to tier 3 (top 25) in 2026 in his year-two ACL recovery, the threshold for confirming the 2023 ceiling can be recaptured.