Detroit Lions Offseason Thread 2023

[Hongbit]

1 minute ago, Longgone said:

He's fast and athletic, prove otherwise.

He’s not anymore, prove otherwise.  Lol.  

[Motown Bombers]

The Sutton contract is basically a two year deal. I'm hoping the Anzalone contract is more like a 1-2 year deal. Holmes as been pretty good at contracts that don't commit the Lions for too long. 

[Hongbit]

One good part of the Anal deal is it now has me more optimistic that they will go above and beyond to bring back Jamaal Williams.  

[Motown Bombers]

 

[Shinzaki]

So we could Corral him with a late round pick?

[Hongbit]

1 minute ago, Motown Bombers said:

 

Book on him is good skills but was all read option in college.  Unsure if he can read defenses and go through progressions.   

[MichiganCardinal]

Heard a listener on 97.1 say that Anzalone is the Brandon Inge of the Lions. I see it.

[Longgone]

18 minutes ago, Hongbit said:

He’s not anymore, prove otherwise.  Lol.  

He's 28, same age as Cam Sutton. Is Sutton old and slow now also?

[Motown Bombers]

Just now, MichiganCardinal said:

Heard a listener on 97.1 say that Anzalone is the Brandon Inge of the Lions. I see it.

Running backs be running on him like he's Lawrence Taylor. 

[RandyMarsh]

Put me in the camp of those that thought Anzalone looked better than fans gave him credit for but even with that said I did not expect nor thought he deserved anywhere close to this type of contract. Even if the coaches and Holmes love him and see more in him than most fans do that still doesn't mean they couldn't have gotten for less unless other teams around the league feel the same way. 

[MichiganCardinal]

I'm just going to watch this on repeat until I can tell myself it's going to be okay.

[Jason_R]

Seems like they view him as the QB of the defense. He played 95% of defensive snaps last year. Who was going to come in from the outside and take that role?

[Motown Bombers]

1 minute ago, Jason_R said:

Seems like they view him as the QB of the defense. He played 95% of defensive snaps last year. Who was going to come in from the outside and take that role?

A rookie. I was under the impression it is better to have QBs under rookie contracts. 

[Hongbit]

2 years younger with an above average PFF ranking of 76.2 vs. the below average 59.2 of AA.   

[RandyMarsh]

I definitely hope they get one of the top ILB at either 18 or possibly trading up to the late 1st or early second whether that be Sanders, Simpson or my personal fave Jack Campbell. Maybe have Anzalone be a mentor albeit expensive one to bring them along, if he helped turn a late round pick Rodrigo into a solid starter in his rookie year maybe he can turn a 1st/2nd rounder into a plus guy in a short amount of time. 

[Motor City Sonics]

Anzalone was better the INSTANT Aubrey Pleasant was fired. .   Pleasant was f'ing up the whole scheme.  The whole defense completely changed when they bounced him.  

[Hongbit]

25 minutes ago, MichiganCardinal said:

I'm just going to watch this on repeat until I can tell myself it's going to be okay.

He played great in this game.  He played great in about 4 other games.  The problem is he was really bad in about 5 others.   He needs to be really bad in 1 or 2 games max.  It’s a position where his floor can’t be that low.  It crushes the entire structure of the defense.  

[1984Echoes]

14 minutes ago, Hongbit said:

He played great in this game.  He played great in about 4 other games.  The problem is he was really bad in about 5 others.   He needs to be really bad in 1 or 2 games max.  It’s a position where his floor can’t be that low.  It crushes the entire structure of the defense.  

Playoffs.

[1984Echoes]

Just now, 1984Echoes said:

Playoffs.

The perfect time for him to show everyone just how average, more or less, he is..

[Jason_R]

9 minutes ago, Hongbit said:

He played great in this game.  He played great in about 4 other games.  The problem is he was really bad in about 5 others.   He needs to be really bad in 1 or 2 games max.  It’s a position where his floor can’t be that low.  It crushes the entire structure of the defense.  

He’s arguably the second most important player on the defense behind Hutch and he got paid market rate for his position in free agency. 

[Jason_R]

Quote

“Last year was the best I’ve ever seen him in all the years that we had him in New Orleans,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said last December. “That was the best that I’ve seen him play, and this year is even better. He’s playing at a high level, he’s the quarterback of our defense. He’s versatile, he’s a really good athlete, he’s smart, he knows exactly what (defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn is) looking for. He knows the situations that come up.”

Beyond his own production, Lions coaches credited him with helping develop the team’s younger linebackers, namely Malcolm Rodriguez, who started 15 games as a rookie and tallied 87 tackles.

“Back probably after the third game, and everybody was praising Malcolm, I made the comment that Alex had a lot to do with how fast Malcolm is playing,” position coach Kelvin Sheppard said late last season. “Because a lot of times, that’s the guy who is getting the car started, so to speak. He’s getting everybody lined up, making sure guys are in the right position, making checks, going out of his way to make sure his teammates are in the right position on certain plays and checks we’ve had. And doing things he really doesn’t have to do, and he’s been doing this since day one. He was doing it last year, but this year, we’ve just gone to another level with that player.”

Rogers: https://www.motownlions.com/2023/03/13/detroit-lions-re-sign-linebacker-alex-anzalone-to-three-year-deal/

[MichiganCardinal]

If we get the Anzalone of the last five weeks or so of 2022 (sans Carolina) spread across a 17+ game NFL season, this is fine. A good-not-great player at market value.

But color me skeptical that will be the case. The guy is not some up-and-comer. He is a six-year veteran who was statistically the 3rd worst linebacker in all of football in 2021, was outperformed by a 6th round rookie in training camp, and had games this year against Dallas and Seattle where he may have benefitted the team by not suiting up.

[Mr.TaterSalad]

I know it's way too easy as fans to armchair quarterback a GM's decision making and say why wasn't player X signed instead of the guy you did. I know there is a lot more than goes into signing a player than the Madden, video game view of free agency that many of us fans have. But I'm going to armchair GM for a second and put on my Madden hat.

I just have a bit of a hard time paying Anzalone this type of money with someone like Bobby Wagner or Lavonte David still on the market. And who knows, maybe they are in on trying to sign Wagner or David. Maybe they were in but the price is too high or they simply won't sign here. But I can't help but think that Wagner or David coming in to fill Anzalone's role and quarterback this defense, even at age 32, would be an upgrade over what Anzalone has done the past two seasons.

I'm not mad that Holmes gave Anzalone this contract, it's just disappointing to see someone like Wagner or Lavonte David still on the market and we put the money into Anzalone on day one of free agency.

[TP_Fan]

This kind of money? Come on, this isn’t a large contract and that’s before we even seen the guaranteed money! At a $6M avg your talking 2.6% of your teams cap on a starter or first off the bench guy who is widely respected in the locker room and who obviously improved with the rest of the defense as the season went on.  And it’s likely the lions will only be committed to two years. Let’s stop pretending like he just got some ridiculous about of money.  

[Tenacious D]

Who knows if any of these free agents want to come to Detroit?  We’re definitely more relevant now, if not a darling, but other considerations factor in.  Like where players want to live.  Or more importantly, how their significant others perceive Detroit vs other markets.  The “free” in free agency gives them the latitude to factor in these considerations. 
 

as for Anzalone?  I trust Holmes and Campbell.