For years, everything was awesome with the Detroit Lions as they rose to being a contender. But this offseason, there have been multiple situations that show potential cracks in that culture and makes it easy to wonder what's going on behind the scenes.
Since the notion was put out there they have had some growing differences behind the scenes, general manager Brad Holmes and head coach Dan Campbell have both dismissed it as nothing. But that's the expected response to any inquiry on that kind of thing. It's not like either of them will publicly say, "Yeah, we've differed on a lot more things than we ever have before."
Through a certain lense, it'd be easy to buy the idea that Campbell would like Holmes to loosen things up a little when it comes to adding players, or keeping certain players he thinks are important. If there's frustration to be had with either of them, 95 percent of it would be with Holmes.
If Campbell has become someone who questions Holmes' approach, that would naturally create conflict where that hadn't been any before.
Alex Anzalone adds fuel to idea Dan Campbell and Brad Holmes aren't as fully aligned as they used to be
One of the most notable free agent departures for the Lions this offseason was linebacker Alex Anzalone, who is now a Tampa Bay Buccaneer. Given the events of the past year or so, it's worth wondering how much of an effort the Lions made to bring him back. On a scale of 1-10, zero would be the easy bet.
During a recent appearance on "The Schultz Report", NFL insider Jordan Schultz referenced Anzalone's social media activity as a sign his time with the Lions didn't end all that well. But was he surprised it ended the way it did?
"They didn't come back to, like, 'you weren't playing well'", Anzalone said. "It didn't come back to Dan (Campbell) saying 'yeah, we wanna move on.' Dan had told me he wanted me back....it literally just came down to finances, and what they could and couldn't afford...The front office made decisions of where they wanna invest money, it wasn't in me, and it is what it is."
Aside from Jack Campbell's looming contract extension, the Lions made another investment at linebacker when they signed Derrick Barnes to a three-year, $24 million deal before he officially hit the open market in 2025. That surely fueled Anzalone being unhappy with his contract situation, which led to a lame adjustment to the final year of his deal to get him to practice at training camp and his inevitable departure.
By any measure you can find, Anzalone is a better player than Barnes. Their roles in a defense are different, but Barnes, a converted college defensive end, would ostensibly be the better pass rusher of the two and he is not even that. A five-year age difference is not a good enough reason to make the younger Barnes the better multi-year investment, and it's literally the only category he has an advantage in over Anzalone.
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Beyond the Lions' decision to choose Barnes over him continuing to look bad at every point it's brought up, Anzalone's comments add teeth to the idea Campbell and Holmes have started to have more conflict when it comes to roster construction.
In this case Holmes may have seen one of his first draft picks through rose-colored glasses, with fear former Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn would poach Barnes after becoming the New York Jets head coach. Meanwhile, Campbell knows who the better player actually is and may have had questions about paying Barnes like a top-20 off the ball linebacker in the league.
Anzalone is understandably not happy with the Lions' organization in an overall sense, and he hasn't been shy about it when opportunities arise. But he may have calmly given Holmes a little parting gift by suggesting, wait for it...."financial constraints", following a poor investment in someone else at his position, overrode Campbell's desire to keep him.