The Detroit Lions believe that McNeill’s return will not worsen his Team.

Alim McNeill, a standout defensive tackle, will be out of the Detroit Lions lineup for the next four weeks after the team placed him on injured reserve on Tuesday. The injury happened during Sunday’s victory over New Orleans for McNeill. The third-year tackle left the game early due to an injury and later made a comeback. But in the second half, he would leave the game a second time and never come back. This season, Brian Branch, a rookie, is the first player to have returned from an injury to play after missing several weeks.

However, the Lions don’t think McNeill’s return had a detrimental effect on his circumstances. In that case, head coach Dan Campbell thinks the defender felt he could play through the injury, which is why he made the return. “If we really felt like, man, they’re gonna make this thing worse, we’re not putting them back in there,” Campbell said. We’re not going to waste all that time and energy on seeing if he can limp along for six weeks, after which we’re going to lose him. However, if the player believes they can succeed, Mac returned, tried it, and then left after realizing it didn’t feel right. Thus, I don’t have that feeling.

Campbell also outlined the rationale for substituting a wounded player into a match.

“Some of these are things you get, and you think you’re going to make them worse. These things can get serious, so it’s not worth it. However, if these are the case, listen, the issue is one of pain; the thing is stable,” Campbell said. It is up to the player now whether or not they can handle it. However, those seem to differ slightly in my opinion. I’m all for it if he has to deal with pain and it doesn’t get worse. However, it’s probably not worth it if we feel like we could undercut this player in comparison to the output we’ll get from him—that is, less than 100%. That is not what we want to do to our guys.”

The Lions will have to look elsewhere for interior line options with McNeill on injured reserve. Isaiah Buggs, Brodric Martin, and Levi Onwuzurike are a few of them; they have all been healthy scratches at various points this season. “All you can ask for is that those guys have a fantastic opportunity. You’re thrilled if you’re one of them. Let me just say that it will be difficult to be without Mac for these four weeks as he has been a dependable, consistent, and effective player for us. This year, he’s truly come into his own,” Campbell remarked. “He’s just gotten bigger every year, but he really came into his own this year.

It hurts that guys had a lot of respect for him, but this train moves on. We have dealt with that throughout the year because that is the nature of the game we play. Every team experiences it, and now that we’ve dealt with it for three years, it’s time for man up. This is a fantastic chance for Levi, Brodric, Bohanna, and Buggs. Everyone, keep an eye out for the next man up. These guys will have the chance to assist us and prove their worth.”