Green Bay Packers 2021 NFL Draft Prospects to Know: IDL Alim McNeill

Much of the last offseason, or at least after the draft, was spent wondering how the Green Bay Packers could go through all seven rounds without addressing the receiver position—and I get it. I was surprised as well.

However, just as surprising was that Green Bay chose not to address the interior defensive line position either. Now, to their credit, the unit did perform better overall in 2020 than what they did in 2019, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t work to be done either.

Kenny Clark is still in need of some additional help; on top of that, Green Bay is extremely thin at this position with only five players on the roster at the moment, and two of them — Anthony Rush and Willington Previlon— were primarily practice squad players last season.

Improved overall play along the interior will alleviate some of the pressure on Clark—which of course, is a good thing. It’ll also improve the run game while helping the edge rushers and linebackers as well.

Unfortunately, for the Green Bay Packers, this isn’t a very deep class at the interior defensive line position. In fact, many draft analysts consider this the weakest position group in this class.

But one name to know heading into the draft is Alim McNeill from North Carolina State—someone the Packers have already met with as part of the pre-draft process.

McNeill appeared in 13 games as a freshman in 2018 and became a full-time starter during his sophomore year in 2019. He finished his career with 50 pressures, including seven sacks in 2019, and this past year he was the third-highest graded interior defensive linemen over at PFF ($$). It’s worth noting that McNeill was more impactful as a run defender than as a pass-rusher, but still effective at getting after the quarterback.

At 6’2” – 320 pounds, McNeill often lined up as the nose tackle, which with the Green Bay Packers would allow Clark to play more outside. He’s also one of the more explosive interior defenders in this class and made Bruce Feldman’s athletic freak list prior to the 2020 season.

https://twitter.com/PFF_College/status/1357080312711364609

Here is what Joe Marino of The Draft Network has to say about McNeill in his pre-draft scouting report:

"“While there is some rawness that shows up to his game when it comes to technique and processing skills, McNeill is a powerful interior defender that is capable of controlling and resetting the line of scrimmage with his heavy hands and functional strength. While he wasn’t often asked to shoot gaps, he also has positive flashes of gap-penetration skills during his time at NC State.There is room for McNeill to grow as a pass rusher, but as it stands, his variety of rush moves and rush plan is underdeveloped. For a team in need of a short-yardage and early-down run stuffer that has a ceiling to develop into a more effective pass rusher, McNeill is a terrific mid-round option.”"

Over at The Draft Network, McNeill is rated as their 100th overall prospect and eighth interior defensive lineman. PFF, however, is much higher on McNeill, having him ranked as the 47th overall player in this year’s draft and the second interior defensive lineman, behind only Christian Barmore.

And right now, the NFL Mock Draft Database has McNeil projected as an early third-round pick, based on thier consensus big board, which takes into account dozens of big boards put together by draft analysts.

There are still several free agents who are available and could help the Green Bay Packers at this position, and even if they do sign one of them, it shouldn’t stop the Packers from addressing this need in the draft. On the flip side, if they don’t add anyone in free agency, they’ll almost have to spend an early-round pick on the position–and Alim McNeill could certainly be an option.