Tell us you want a new deal without saying you want a new deal: after making several references on social media this offseason to his value to the Lions as he enters the final year of his contract, linebacker Alex Anzalone is absent from the team's optional workouts in Allen Park this week.
A co-captain and one of the Lions' most reliable defensive players each of his first four seasons in Detroit, Anzalone has a base salary of $6 million this year after signing a three-year, $18.75 million deal after the 2022 season.
Since then, the Lions have awarded big-money extensions to key players across the roster, including Alim McNeill (four years, $98 million) and Kerby Joseph (four years, $86 million) on defense. They also signed Anzalone's close friend and fellow Derrick Barnes to a three-year, $24 million deal this offseason.
If you ask Dan Campbell, no player has been more integral to the Lions' rise from kick-arounds to contenders under he and Brad Holmes than Anzalone.
"When you come into an organization, you want to have a vision for it, you want to get it up on its feet and then you want it to be self-sustaining, and I feel like we're just about there," Campbell said last month at the annual NFL meetings. "And it’s because of the people that we have in this building. It’s the owner we have, it’s the people that we have, from scouting to player personnel to the coaches, and then most importantly the players.
"We’ve been fortunate to stay together here long enough to build this thing with a true foundation of players we were able to draft from the ground up, also with some guys that were here — only a couple, now — when we got here, and we brought in a couple players, particularly a player — Alex — in 2021. That group of players has been here now going on five years, all of us together, so that’s what it’s about, this group, all of us now. We’ve seen the ups and downs, we’ve been through it."
Anzalone is the glue to Detroit's defense. It didn't come undone last year amid a rash of injuries to starters until Anzalone broke his forearm in Week 11 and missed the next six games. The Lions allowed 16.9 points per game with Anzalone on the field, 26 points per game without him. He returned for what he called a "legacy game" with a cast on his arm in the season finale and led the team in tackles in the Lions' triumph over the Vikings for the NFC North.
Not always one for analytics -- or social media -- Anzalone has shared several posts on X over the past few months that underscore his unique importance to the Lions. One of them highlighted that Anzalone played the highest percentage of man coverage snaps among NFL linebackers last season, to which he added, "No other LB asked to do what I do." He also shared a graph that illustrated Detroit's decline on defense after his injury, measured by DVOA.
And when Chiefs linebacker Nick Bolton signed a three-year, $45 million deal in March, Anzalone was quick to note that the market at the position is rising. While we're here, Bolton has 346 tackles, 21 tackles for loss, 12 passes defended and 5.0 sacks in 41 games over the last three seasons. Anzalone, in 43 games over the same stretch, has 317 tackles, 21 tackles for loss, 17 passes defended and 5.5 sacks.
Bolton is now the fifth highest-paid linebacker in the NFL, per Over The Cap. Anzalone, at $6.25 million per year, ranks 35th. His last post on X, pinned at the top of profile, says, "Respect his due."
Add it all up, and it's pretty clear that Anzalone not only wants a new deal, but deserves one. Holmes and the Lions have been proactive about taking care of their own players, and not just those on the younger end of the spectrum.
They signed left tackle Taylor Decker to a three-year, $60 million extension last summer ahead of his age-31 season and the final year of his contract. This will be Anzalone's age-31 season.
The Lions don't have any mandatory work until training camp opens in July. (They cancelled mandatory minicamp as a result of moving the start of camp up a week to prepare for the Hall of Fame Game.) If Anzalone doesn't report then, they might have a real issue on their hands. But defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard, Anzalone's position coach for the prior four seasons, isn't sweating Anzalone's absence from the offseason program. He has already trained at home in Florida for parts of the spring in years past.
"Me and Alex are all good," Sheppard said Thursday. "I have zero concern. That player is a leader here, he’s been a leader here. He’s been an intricate piece in building the culture that’s here, and I’m going to pay the respect that he’s earned and that he’s due, and whatever his private situations are, I’ll let Alex address those when he’s face-to-face with you all.
"What I can tell you is, as far as it concerns me, it has no effect on how I see Alex or how I view him. That’s one of our captains, he’s been one of our captains, and I still see him as such."
There are 16 NFL linebackers making at least $10 million per year, 20 making at least $9 million. The salary cap has jumped about $55 million since Anzalone signed his current deal, the sharpest two-year increase in league history. As it continues to rise, Anzalone is angling for a raise of his own.