![\"Dan](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2263358716-1-2.jpg\")
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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
The Detroit Lions may cut loose one of their highest paid players, even though he’s on a lengthy contract with the team.<\/p>\n
As the 2026 NFL<\/a> draft approaches, the Detroit Lions<\/a> are vetting a plethora of fresh talent<\/a> for the team, but that also means they\u2019ll have to say farewell to veteran players when the time is right.<\/p>\n It\u2019s always a give-and-take between having rookies on the squad<\/a> with energy and health vs. having veterans with experience and knowhow. The ideal situation is to have a mix of both, and thankfully, the Detroit Lions have that going into the 2026-27 season.<\/p>\n But, for one player who\u2019s still on a four-year contract may have his time with the Detroit Lions cut short. That\u2019s the case being made by an analyst looking at the team\u2019s current, and future, situation.<\/p>\n Detroit Lions May Cut Ties With Defensive Tackle Sooner Than Expected<\/p>\n So, which Lion is on thin ice? In a piece out on Tuesday, April 21, for Detroit Jock City<\/a>, Andrew Hughes makes the case that Detroit Lions defensive tackle Alim McNeill may part ways with the team.<\/p>\n McNeill is under contract for three more years. The Lions re-signed him to a large, four-year, $97 million extension in the middle of the 2024 season, according to research from Spotrac<\/a>, and he was dubbed the most overpaid position in the league in 2025 by Gary Davenport of Bleacher Report<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cMcNeill is a quality run defender who flashes occasionally as a pass-rusher. But he\u2019s never had more than five sacks in a season and has just 11.5 for his career,\u201d Davenport noted at the time.<\/p>\n He added, \u201cPlayers making upward of $25 million a season are expected to be game-wreckers. And just when he was showing some potential to be one, he tore up his knee.\u201d<\/p>\n Why the Detroit Lions May Have to Find a Way to Part With $97 Million Player<\/p>\n As Hughes points out in his feature, after coming back from an ACL injury sustained in December 2024, McNeill appeared in 10 games last season and collected nine solo tackles, one sack and a forced fumble. He has a 52.1 overall grade from Pro Football Focus<\/a>, which is not strong and puts him in the bottom half of defensive tackles in the league. That\u2019s not exactly worth a $97 million deal.<\/p>\n \u201cMcNeill is under contract for three more years that guarantees him $55 million,\u201d Hughes states in the piece<\/a>. \u201cThat was signed following a five-sack 2023 season in which he ranked No. 6 overall for PFF\u2019s rankings, however, and McNeill\u2019s deal is starting to age poorly after an underwhelming 2025 campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n Depending what the Lions do in the draft, they could be in a good position to replace McNeill. As Hughes notes, taking Cincinnati Bearcats\u2019 Dontay Corleone or Clemson Tigers<\/a>\u2018 Peter Woods would set them up nicely for the future.<\/p>\n \u201cMcNeill isn\u2019t going anywhere just yet, and will still be featured in Kelvin Sheppard\u2019s schemes,\u201d Hughes says. \u201cBut Detroit may just be adding a player that will set the stage for the Lions to trade McNeill if\/when his value rises again this coming fall.\u201d<\/p>\n Frankly, I think it\u2019s hard to envision the team seeing McNeill\u2019s contract to fruition. He has ridiculous contract numbers, and he\u2019s a solid player but not as great as his contract implies. As I see it, either the Detroit Lions renegotiate him in a big way or find another home for him in the future.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tAnne Erickson<\/a> is an award-winning reporter for Heavy Sports covering the NFL, NBA and college football. Anne Erickson has years of experience covering the NFL and additional sports, and her work has been published via ESPN, Fox Sports and more. She has interviewed some of the biggest names in sports, including Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff. Erickson also hosts several podcasts and is a Detroit-based radio host. More about Anne Erickson<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Lions\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty The Detroit Lions may cut loose one of their highest paid players, even though he’s on a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":871631,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2071],"tags":[146,113,2506,7,147,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-871630","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-detroit-lions","8":"tag-detroit","9":"tag-detroit-lions","10":"tag-detroitlions","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-lions","13":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116446532412586926","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=871630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871630\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/871631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=871630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=871630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=871630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}