Allen Park — As Lions defensive tackle Alim McNeill looked around the league at the best players at his position, he couldn’t help but wonder what was holding him back from being in that conversation.
In his first two years, McNeill has been solid, but not spectacular. A third-round pick out of North Carolina State in 2021, he started 17 games last season, but the resume lacks splash plays. He saw a nice jump in quarterback pressures with his increased playing time, but he had just one sack and six tackles for loss. That’s a far cry from the elite defensive tackles such as Aaron Donald, Chris Jones or Dexter Lawrence — a bigger-framed lineman like McNeill who had a breakout campaign last season, racking up 70 pressures, 7½ sacks and two forced fumbles.
“I had a couple games where I liked a couple things that I did, or coach might have liked it, but I just want to be more consistent,” McNeill said Tuesday. “I want to make those plays almost every play. I’m seeing some guys around the league able to do it and I’m just watching them and I’m like, ‘I can do the same thing.’ That’s what it was for me, just consistency. So I just took a more professional approach to this offseason, diet-wise and things I was doing.”
McNeill has changed the way he eats since the end of last season, from simple things like cutting out candy, drinking more water and focusing on better portion control to completely stopping the consumption of red meat. And while he hasn’t done an annual body composition test with the team yet, he says he can absolutely feel a difference.
“As far as how I’m feeling and stuff, I feel so much better, a lot more lean, a lot more flexible, can bend a lot better now,” McNeill said. “I was talking to one of my guys about it and he was asking me how I felt too. I was like, ‘I feel lean, I feel faster, I just feel a lot better.'”
McNeill played at 325 pounds last season and anticipates being in that ballpark again this year, but with better overhaul conditioning and body composition. In addition to his diet, he’s also put an emphasis on taking care of his muscles by increasing his stretching routine at home from once to three times daily, while adding in a weekly yoga session into his schedule.
What will likely excite the Lions most about McNeill’s approach is he’s doing it on his own accord, not because he was asked.
“Yeah, it’s just me,” he said. “That’s just me wanting to be great. Got to do what I got to do to be the best I can for the team.”
Growing excitement for Jamo
At this time last year, receiver Jameson Williams was just three months removed from tearing his ACL, waiting to learn how much the injury and ongoing rehab would impact his draft stock. Now fully healthy, he joined quarterback Jared Goff and several other Lions receivers for a throwing session in California earlier this month.
As one might expect, there’s as much buzz for the speedy second-year talent with his teammates as there is outside of the building.
“We all linked up like two weeks ago back in California, a lot of receivers there just running routes, catching balls,” Amon-Ra St. Brown said. “He looked good. I’m excited to see what he does. Obviously him being healthy, having a year to prepare and train, versus last year, when he was rehabbing and then we threw him in at the end of the season. So I’m excited to see what he does with a full offseason under his belt.”
Williams was active the final six games last season, but he was on the field for just 78 offensive snaps. Still, his game-changing speed showed up on multiple occasions, including his first catch, a 41-yard touchdown from Goff.
“He’ll continue to develop, and can’t wait to get on the field with him,” Goff said. “I can’t wait to get on the field with him and get to work with him and really dive into some stuff; get to work on plays, get to work on routes, without the consequence of in-game implications. Being able to work on things freely will be fun. He’s a tremendous talent. He could do so many amazing things for our offense, and excited to see where it goes.”
Big V on the mend
Offensive tackle Taylor Decker provided a positive update on another Lions player working his way back from injury, guard Halapoulivaati Vaitai.
“I don’t even know if I’m supposed to say this, but I’m impressed with where he’s at moving around, lifting, running,” Decker said after the team reported for their first set of OTA practices this week. “I mean, having a back surgery, he looks good. I guess that’s all I’ll say on that. I don’t know where he’s at in his rehab.”
Vaitai missed all of last season after suffering the back injury in the preseason. The veteran is expected to compete for the starting right guard job with the returning Graham Glasgow. Decker is thrilled to have both back in Detroit this year.
“He’s the personality in the room that, he kinda keeps things light,” Decker said about Vaitai. “I say this lovingly about Big V — I think he’s about to turn 30 — he’s like a 30-year-old kid. He’s just a big kid. And he’s literally just having fun and he likes hanging out with his friends. He just keeps it light because, obviously, in-season things can get tense and stuff like that. So, I mean, we’re just excited to have him back. He’s like a big golden retriever, you know? And I have a golden retriever. And I love him.”
jdrogers@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @Justin_Rogers