Uh-Oh, Lions Might’ve Jumped the Gun With This $97M Deal
The Detroit Lions have been big on rewarding their homegrown talent lately—and one of the biggest checks they’ve cut recently went to defensive tackle Alim McNeill. Last October, they handed him a four-year, $97 million extension with $55 million guaranteed. That made him one of the highest-paid D-tackles in the league.
Sounds great, right? Well… here’s the issue.
In Week 15 against the Bills, McNeill tore his ACL. That means he’s out for the start of this season, and the best guess right now is that he won’t be back until late October or maybe even November. Not ideal timing when you’re paying someone superstar money.
To be fair, McNeill has been a real bright spot for the Lions since they drafted him in 2021—he’s been graded as a top-10 defensive tackle by PFF over the last two seasons. But injuries have been a problem. He already missed time late in 2023 with a knee sprain before the ACL tear.
Now, analysts are starting to question the deal. Gary Davenport from Bleacher Report just named McNeill the most overpaid defensive tackle in the league. He pointed out that while McNeill is solid, he’s not exactly blowing up games—he’s never had more than five sacks in a season and has just 11.5 career sacks. Basically: if you’re making $25 million a year, people expect you to be a game-wrecker.
And here’s the kicker—his cap hit this season is only about $6 million, but that balloons to nearly $29 million in the later years. So the Lions are pretty locked into this deal until at least 2026.
Bottom line? McNeill is a good player, but if he can’t bounce back from this injury and level up his game, Detroit might end up regretting they paid him that much that fast.
“Lions’ Mega Deal Just Got Roasted by Analyst – Too Soon?”
