Detroit Lions linebacker Alex Anzalone
The Detroit Lions have bigger fish to fry right now than their 2026 NFL free agent class, but the more the team struggles, the more you start to get nervous about the players who will no longer be helping this team make a championship run after the 2025 season.
You can always make moves to add salary cap space, but the Lions already are in a tough spot with just under $17.8 million in projected space, ranking 23rd in the NFL. When you combine that number with all of the team’s weaknesses and the fact that there are 21 projected unrestricted free agents currently on the roster, you can already see some difficult decisions on the horizon.
One of the toughest decisions the team may have to make is moving on from longtime veteran linebacker Alex Anzalone, one of the most notable pending free agents on the roster.
Lions linebacker Alex Anzalone could be playing in his final stretch with the team
Despite coming to Detroit with the dreaded “injury history” designation from his time with the New Orleans Saints, Alex Anzalone has been nothing short of phenomenal for the Lions. He has been one of the most underrated impact players at the linebacker position across the league, and we saw when he missed seven games last season just how important he’d been to the Detroit defense.
His best years came in 2022 and 2023 when he racked up over 120 total tackles and a career-high 19 total quarterback hits over those two seasons.
In 12 games so far this season, Anzalone has already proven his value once again to the Detroit defense, racking up 72 total tackles, five QB hits, an interception, and three tackles for loss. It’s not that he hasn’t been productive or good for the locker room, but the reality of the life cycle of linebackers in the NFL is that Anzalone is going to be 32 at the start of next season.
How much money would you commit to him with so many other areas of the roster that need to be addressed next offseason?
You can never rule anything out in the NFL, especially when a player loves his team fit. But you also can’t blame guys for going and getting the most money they can while they can get it. Would anyone be shocked if Aaron Glenn and the cap-rich New York Jets offered Anzalone a huge deal to come play for a couple of years?
Anzalone will have plenty of friends in high places at other organizations, and likely no shortage of suitors trying to sign him to a short-term deal in NFL Free Agency.
The Lions may have to hold out hope that Anzalone is willing to take a discount to stay in Detroit, because they need to make a number of moves to upgrade the defensive front as well as the secondary. We could be witnessing the “last dance” for Anzalone in Honolulu blue.
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