In any salary cap league, teams have to make tough decisions. Within that, considering all factors, it sometimes comes down to choosing between two players you would like to keep if you could.
Fortunately for those of us who follow and cover the Detroit Lions, general manager Brad Holmes and head coach Dan Campbell are not good at hiding how they feel. If they're in or out on a player it will usually show with words, closely followed by related actions.
As a pipeline of notable second contracts continues to flow and forces difficult decisions, the Lions foreshadowed a departure from this offseason a year ago.
Before 2025 free agency even opened, perhaps with an outside suitor known to be lurking, the Lions signed linebacker Derrick Barnes to a three-year, $24 million contract with $16 million guaranteed.
Not too far after that, Alex Anzalone began to hit social media to express displeasure with his contract situation as he entered the final year of his deal. The Lions eventually pacified him with a lame-looking contract adjustment early in training camp, and his departure remained inevitable.
On Day 1 of free agency, Anzalone agreed to a two-year deal with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Subsequent reporting revealed it to be worth a total of $17 million with $9 million guaranteed.
Evaluation of Alex Anzalone's fit in Tampa Bay fortifies Lions' mistake
NFL Next Gen Stats has named eight perfect pairings of player and team from the first wave of 2026 free agency. Anzalone and the Buccaneers round out the list.
"This former Florida Gator should immediately step in as the best coverage linebacker of Todd Bowles' tenure in Tampa. Over the past five seasons in Detroit, Anzalone allowed the second-lowest completion percentage in coverage of any LB (67.5%, minimum 100 targets) while recording 33 passes defensed, the fourth-most at the position. In 2025, Buccaneers linebackers allowed the highest completion percentage of any team's 'backer unit (84.4%) and recorded just eight passes defensedcombined; Anzalone totaled nine on his own. Anzalone will also slide seamlessly into Bowles' blitz scheme. His 2025 numbers (17 pressures and 2.5 sacks on 91 pass rushes) almost perfectly match those of incumbent starter SirVocea Dennis (19 pressures and three sacks on 95 pass rushes)."
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Anzalone's prowess as a coverage linebacker is well-known. But with his background as a defensive end in college, Barnes would be easy to see as a better blitzer/pass rusher. No statistical measure shows that though, and eye test backs all of it up.
The only mark clearly in Barnes' corner in a comparison to Anzalone is the fact he's five years younger. That is not something to base a one or the other decision on, and Anzalone's perceived fit in Tampa Bay further confirms a mistake Lions progressively made over the course of 12 months.