On Monday, Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell revealed that they are thinking about returning defensive tackle Alim McNeill to practice for the first time since he tore his ACL against the Buffalo Bills in December. The next day, Campbell all but confirmed on 97.1 The Ticket that McNeill will practice this week.
But when will McNeill actually return to the field for a game? Let’s take a look at both Campbell’s comments and NFL rules to make our best guess.
How does reserve/PUP list work?
McNeill is currently on the reserve/Physically Unable to Perform list, meaning he does not count against the 53-man roster. He was required to miss the first four games of the season after being placed on this list, and now that we’re in Week 5, he is eligible to return.
If/when the Lions return him to practice, he’ll remain on the reserve/PUP, but Detroit will have activated his 21-day evaluation period. Over the next three weeks, McNeill can remain on the reserve/PUP, but cannot play until he is activated to the 53-man roster. Any time during those 21 days, the Lions can opt to take him off reserve/PUP and onto the 53-man roster. If he remains on the reserve/PUP at the conclusion of 21 days, Detroit must decide to either place him on the 53-man roster or shut him down for the year.
So, in short, once McNeill returns to practice, he is eligible to join the 53-man roster and play in a game at any point over the next three weeks.
Detroit only has three more games before their bye week, so it would make a lot of sense for Detroit to give McNeill three weeks of practices to get in football shape before returning. That would mean missing the Bengals, Chiefs, and Buccaneers games, before returning for the Lions’ Week 9 divisional game against the Minnesota Vikings. If the Lions were to wait this long (and start his clock for Detroit’s first practice this week), he would have to be placed on the 53-man roster on October 22 during their bye week.
What did Dan Campbell say?
Campbell was asked on the “Costa & Jansen with Heather” radio show Tuesday if they plan on getting McNeill fully back before the bye week. The Lions coach was fairly non-committal, nothing that they’re going to try, but also play it by ear.
“Yeah, I think we’re going to see if we can do that and how comfortable he is,” Campbell said. “Really, so much of it is about: 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.”
So what does that all mean? McNeill probably won’t play this week against the Bengals, and it would even be a little surprising to see him the following week against the Chiefs. “Monday Night Football” at home against the Buccaneers in Week 7 is certainly on the table and would be a fun debut for McNeill. At worst, McNeill will appear in Detroit’s next divisional game in Week 9.
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