The Detroit Lions started training camp on Sunday, and everyone had their eyes on the potential of a holdout from linebacker Alex Anzalone. He did not hold out. He showed up to camp and passed the conditioning test and everything.
He did not practice, though, and that caused some to wonder if there could be some sort of hold-in where Anzalone shows up, but doesn't practice until he gets a deal. Lions head coach Dan Campbell says he refused to believe that.
If there's one thing we learned about Anzalone in 2024, it's that the defense just flat-out works better with him on the field.
He's a key piece of this team and is likely to continue to be a key piece of this team in 2025, and lately and that's probably why he's looking for a new deal. That and other things.
Anzalone is going into the final year of his contract in 2025, but he has no guarantees left on his deal, and he's kind of just hanging out there in the wind. The Lions would likely never cut him or do anything to move on from him, but the fact is that an extension would probably make him a whole lot more comfortable.
I worked with cap expert Joshua Queipo on coming up with a projection for what an extension for Anzalone would look like, and here's what we came up with:
One year, $9 million deal with $7.5 million of that deal fully guaranteed
You'll notice that Anzalone's extension isn't really a long one. That's based on the fact that Anzalone is 30 years old. The Lions would be a lot more apt to go with year-over-year deals because of that, but that's not going to mean that they're going to be chomping at the bit to replace him. It just means the Lions would be playing it safe.
This deal would keep him here until 2026, but if he continues to play well, the Lions may just keep on bringing him back. But it's unlikely that they would do a long-term deal just due to his age.
Here, Anzalone gets a fully guaranteed $7.5 million, which should ease his worries about getting injured or what have you. This way, he gets paid no matter what, and the Lions can still have the money to take care of their big extensions they have to do with other players.
This is a super-easy deal to make for the Lions. Even if they wanted to add an extra year to the deal, it's still worthwhile because they get solid play from him, and they work the deal in both Anzalone's and their favor to make sure they can be protected if things go awry. Just like Anzalone could be protected if things go awry. This makes too much sense not to get done.
