The Detroit Lions could have the services of defensive lineman Alim McNeill sooner than expected.
Just hours after head coach Dan Campbell told reporters the talented defender could return to practice this week, he updated McNeill’s potential return timeline.
During his weekly radio interview on 97.1 The Ticket, Campbell was asked if McNeill had the potential to return to action prior to the team’s bye week.
Detroit has three games ahead before their Week 8 bye. Campbell’s squad faces the Bengals, Chiefs and Buccanneers before their week off.
“I think we’re going to see if we can do that and how comfortable he is,” said Campbell. “So much of it is about: what what does he look like? How does he feel? I think it would be nice to try to do that, if we could. But, we’re not going to say for sure, ‘Alright, this is when you’re playing, there’s no doubt about it.’ Let’s just see where he’s at.”
Detroit’s fifth-year head coach praised McNeill and the team’s medical staff. A significant amount of work has been done to assist the former third-round pick in his efforts to return to practice and eventually back to the field to help Kelvin Sheppard’s defense.
“Dude. He’s unbelievable,” said Campbell. “This guy, listen, he’s been trending the right way. And it’s being honest, being conservative with him, making sure that we’re smart about this. The guy has put in the work. He’s looked phenomenal.
“We’re talking about with Brett Fischer and those guys — we were talking in August about how good the guy looked and that he may be ahead of schedule. It’s just this thing’s taken off and his strength is really good in the knee. And that’s the that’s the biggest thing is getting the strength and flexibility back in the knee,” Campbell commented further. “And he got that pretty quick, because of the work that he put into it.”
Detroit tends to be conservative in their approach to playing members of the roster that are returning from injury. Campbell noted he wants McNeill to be able to produce and be able to protect himself.
“It’s just been about, man, let’s make sure we’re smart with this,” Campbell said. “That we reach that minimum threshold as to, okay man, we know this thing is healed, it’s ready, the flexibility is right and the strength is right. And he can protect himself and produce. So, he’s there, we feel like.”
If the team decides to wait, the first game back for McNeill could be Week 9 against the Minnesota Vikings.
BREAKING NEWS: Lions Part Ways With ‘Promising’ WR After Falling Down Depth Chart
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The Detroit Lions cleared up some space on their roster by parting ways with a wide receiver who flashed some big potential in the preseason.
The team announced on Tuesday that receiver Ronnie Bell was released from the practice squad, a move that came after he had fallen to the bottom of the depth chart. The Lions used the open spot to bring in some reinforcements at linebacker, leaving Bell in search of a new NFL team.
Ronnie Bell Had a Knack for Touchdowns
Bell came into the NFL in 2023 as a seventh-round pick of the San Francisco 49ers and had a relatively productive season. He appeared in 17 games that year and served mostly on special teams, but added an unlikely scoring punch to the offense. Bell made six receptions for 68 yards, with three of those catches going for touchdowns.
Bell saw his role shrink in 2024, appearing in nine games and making two receptions for 22 yards. As Jeff Risdon of USA Today’s Lions Wire noted, Bell came to the Lions early this year and showed some promise in the preseason.
Bell, a former Michigan standout, had a promising preseason with the Lions as he attempted to reboot his NFL career, but a logjam of depth at wide receiver made Bell expendable,” Risdon wrote. The Lions had elevated undrafted rookie Jackson Meeks off the practice squad over Bell in Sunday’s win against Cleveland.
Bell caught five of his six targets in the preseason for 62 yards. Though he missed making the active roster at final cutdowns, he was added back to the practice squad. It was a dire sign for Bell once Meeks was activated for this week’s game, however, and the Lions decided that his spot on the practice squad would be better served for a member of the defense.
Lions Add New Linebacker
As Risdon reported, the Lions used Bell’s spot on the practice squad to sign linebacker Ty Summers, who spent time with Detroit during the summer of 2024 but did not make the roster.
Summers spent the 2024 campaign with the New York Giants, playing in 16 games with two starts,” Risdon wrote. “The 6-1, 241-pound TCU product made 29 tackles and one PD in a little over 100 defensive snaps in New York. He began his NFL career in 2019 as a seventh-round pick by the Packers.
While Summers may provide some depth, the Lions are getting big contributions from a player at the top of the depth chart — Derrick Barnes. The Lions signed him to a three-year extension this offseason, which defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard said was one of his biggest priorities on defense.
“I told him, ‘That’s a player I have to have,’” Sheppard told reporters. “I believe this kid can play four, five spots on the football field and do it at a high level. He can play all three stack backer spots, he can play defensive end. So when you’re able to have a player like that, you see them out in the apex in 11-person personnel – which is really a nickel spot.
“So when you have a player like that, it allows you that ability to present the same looks pre-snap and then post-snap be able to play a different variety of coverages, different variety of pressure packages and things like that.”
