Detroit Lions defensive tackle Alim McNeill dropped 22 pounds: 'He's just as powerful'
When Alim McNeill met with reporters this spring to detail his offseason diet and weight loss plan, he weighed 327 pounds. On Monday, Day 2 of training camp, the Detroit Lions third-year defensive tackle said he was down to 305.
"I feel a lot better," McNeill said. "A lot lighter, faster on the field. And I still have the same strength, so I feel really good."
McNeill said in April he cut most red meat and candy out of his diet. On Monday, he said he's taken an even more wholesome approach to living healthy. He tries to get eight hours of sleep a night. He's been better about managing his hydration. And he spends his idle time during the days working on his recovery.
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"It was just little stuff that I wasn’t really taking care of that I really should have and sleep was one of them," McNeill said. "That was a huge thing for me. I was up late and playing — I would just be up on my phone or whatever, but now I’m making sure I’m getting my hours in, I’m making sure I’m eating good, I’m hydrating. I’m not just doing dilly-dally stuff, I’m making sure I’m recovering and stuff throughout the day, so it’s just being a professional about everything you do, inside the building and outside the building."
McNeill changed his body in part to help with his transition from nose tackle to three-technique, where the Lions envision him contributing more as a pass rusher.
McNeill had one sack last year and two as a rookie in 2021 while playing around 330 pounds.
Lions teammates said this spring they felt and saw a change in McNeill.
"Whewwwwww," offensive guard Jonah Jackson told the Free Press during minicamp. "Alim's moving around like what the hell, where’d this come from? He’s always been doing that, but he’s a little smoother now.
"It still feels he’s just as powerful at whatever weight prior. It’s not like he lost some strength. It’s still Big Mac."
Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn said he was impressed by McNeill's body transformation, but he also warned McNeill that, that alone doesn't guarantee success.
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"The way he transformed his body, I think it’s great," Glenn told the Free Press last month. "But here’s the thing that I told him is, man, there are a lot of guys that are really, really good athletes that are just OK football players. There are some guys that are not good athletes that are damn good football players, and what’s the difference in that? Because those guys understand how to utilize what they have and not just think, 'I’m a good athlete, I can just go out there and win.' It doesn’t happen like that."
Glenn said McNeill worked diligently this spring to improve his hand usage, and McNeill said his focus now is on being a more consistent player.
"I just want to show that I can be consistent every play, every down," he said. "It’s just as simple as that. I just want to be more consistent on the field, be able to show that I can do these things, just have the trust in my coaches."
Standout Starling
With Emmanuel Moseley out indefinitely following a summer knee procedure, the Lions are giving undrafted rookie Starling Thomas V a long look at cornerback.
Thomas played right cornerback with the second-team defense Monday for the second straight day and has gotten first-team special teams reps on the kick cover, kick return and punt cover units.
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Thomas has been compared internally to Jerry Jacobs, who made the Lions as an undrafted rookie in 2021 and started 17 games over the past two seasons.
"He caught our eye in the spring," Lions coach Dan Campbell said. "Just his movement skills. He’s got some awareness about him. He’s built the right way. And there’s some things on special teams that are really intriguing. And so it’s always — for us, that’s kind of the starting point for us is if there’s some intrigue special teams and then you go to the next level of it, like all right, now he’s playing the position. So we want to get a look at him.”
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: How Detroit Lions DT Alim McNeill dropped 22 pounds since spring
