The one bad thing to come out of Sunday's win over the Jacksonville Jaguars for the Detroit Lions was linebacker Alex Anzalone suffering a broken left forearm that is set to sideline him for 6-8 weeks.
The Lions officially placed Anzalone on IR Monday afternoon . They also activated safety Ifeatu Melifonwu from IR, in what looks to a procedural move t o just place him on IR again, and signed linebacker David Long to their practice squad.
In a surprise move, Long was waived by the Miami Dolphins last week. He started all 17 games for them last season, totaling 113 tackles and nine tackles for loss with the No. 1 run defense grade from Pro Football Focus (92.6) among off-ball linebackers who played at least 20 percent of their team's defensive snaps. A hamstring injury in Week 3 this season cost him Week 4 and eventually a starting job. He has been a poor fit for the new defense in Miami, with some notable regression as a run defender (41.2 PFF grade).
David Long is ideal linebacker flier for Lions in wake of Alex Anzalone injury
In 2022 with the Tennessee Titans, Long had 86 total tackles and seven tackles for loss with the fifth-best PFF run defense grade among linebackers (89.0) and the 14th-best overall grade at the position (76.2). The year before that with the Titans, he had 75 total tackles and was PFF's 18th-highest graded linebacker overall (68.0).
Long (5-foot-11, 225 pounds) is definitely an undersized linebacker. He also isn't thought to offer much in coverage, but he did have 11 pass breakups over the 2021 and 2022 seasons. But he has show himself to be a bulldog against the run, with sideline-to-sideline range and energy.
That time with the Titans feels notable to Long now landing with the Lions. Lions defensive line coach Terrell Williams was the Titans' defensive line coach from 2018-2023, spanning all four of Long's seasons there after being a sixth-round pick in 2019. It's fair to think Williams was asked about Long, and vouched for him.
A linebacker with 75 games and 49 starts on his resume rarely if ever becomes available in mid-November. Long was likely to find a new home sometime soon, after clearing waivers. As practice squad fliers go, married with a need for help at linebacker, this was an easy one for the Lions after Anzalone's injury.
