Tuesday was Alim McNeill day. Head coach Dan Campbell kicked the day off by trying to hold back his obvious admiration for McNeill in the opening presser, but couldn’t help it.
“I think this kid’s going to be able to do more than just play a nose (tackle),” Campbell said. “I think there’s going to be more to this kid than just that.”
Then McNeill took the field and immediately showed why they call him “twinkle toes.” No 330-pound player should move that quick. On his very first rep during 3-on-3s with the offensive, he immediately sent two offensive linemen two the ground as everyone tripped over each other. Then, poor newbie Evan Boehm got tossed by McNeill on back-to-back plays.
54 was just all over my notebook today, and defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn couldn’t help but give the young man praise, too.
“I tell you what, man, he’s unbelievable,” Glenn said after practice. “Strong, agile, everything that we expected when we got him.”
For all the complaining in some quarters about the Lions taking another DL in Rd 3, McNeill is going to prove them all wrong.
During a special teams drill practicing on one-on-one blocking, he got into a slap/punching fight with fellow rookie Ifeatu Melifonwu. St. Brown won the rep, completely stymying the corner, who took exception to the way he was blocking.
I really like the work ethic St. Brown is showing. Seems to play with a chip on his shoulder. He’s got a great opportunity for playing time as a rookie.
Levi was hurt today and today was his first chance to showcase what he can do in pads. He will also be changing positions a bit vs mcNeill so I do expect some more development time for him.
Lions want Levi to be a more focused pass rusher, which he has natural ability at, but was not asked to do in the same way in college. He may need to redshirt this year but in no way makes him a bust at this point.
It will be. Most of us were confused with yet another DT but as the days went by and it became clear what McNeill’s role would be, people’s perceptions changed.
Those descriptions about Goff exactly echo what Rams fans said about Goff when he got traded. I think this may be more of what to expect rather than just a miscommunication issue.
The positives I’m getting so far from all the reports I’ve seen are:
we should have a pretty darn good OL
our DL should be above average just maybe need a pass rusher to show up besides Romeo Okwara
our secondary may not be as bad as advertised. Okudah and Oruwariye of course, but Mike Ford, Walker, Iffy, and maybe another one or two prove they have it. And Glenn/Pleasant are like an automatic level up or two for the whole secondary
our RB 1 2 and 3 should all be at the very least serviceable, with the potential to have a real thunder/lightning 3 headed attack.
The deep balls will come for Goff and the receivers, but he’s hitting the stuff he needs to for now. We have solid trenches and that’s usually where you start when you want to built a consistent winning football team.
