The early stages of the NFL offseason have been quite busy and intriguing for teams in the NFC North. The Green Bay Packers, Detroit Lions, Minnesota Vikings, and Chicago Bears have all undergone some changes, either in the front office or coaching staff.
The Packers have made several changes on the defensive side of the ball, along with a couple on offense, which will hopefully help them make another playoff appearance next season.
That said, they’ve had a chance to sit back and watch what everyone else is doing, including the Lions, who have an interesting offseason. Detroit fired offensive coordinator John Morton last month after a disappointing 2025 season. Then they hired Drew Petzing, which wasn’t the most appealing name for Lions fans to see replace Morton.
Furthermore, the Lions may not be able to re-sign all their key free agents, as they’re projected to be $10.3 million over the salary cap, per Over The Cap. One of those free agents is veteran LB Alex Anzalone, who already had issues with the Lions stemming from last summer, and it seems like those feelings have not gone away.
Lions Stud Looks Like He Won't Be a Packers Concern Much Longer
On Sunday, the veteran linebacker took offense to a video posted on Twitter by the Lions, which stated not all breakups are bad and included a montage of all the pass breakups that Detroit had in 2025.
Anzalone responded to the post with a tweet of his own, saying, “Had a career high (9 PDs) and not 1 made it. And other free agents were on the vid too…”
As you can imagine, this tweet caused a bit of a kerfuffle on social media. However, Anzalone deleted that tweet and said in a follow-up tweet, “Some of you guys take my x a lil too serious… love yall tho lol"
Even though Anzalone downplayed the tweet, he can’t blame some Lions fans for jumping to conclusions based on how things have gone for him in Detroit. The veteran defender hoped for a new deal last summer, but never received one from the front office.
Instead, the Lions gave Anzalone an additional $250K towards his guaranteed $6 million salary, plus incentives. Despite those concessions, it doesn’t seem like that will keep him in the Motor City. And if you’re Packers head coach Matt LaFleur, this is great news, as Anzalone is one of the Lions’ better all-around linebackers.
This past season, Anzalone had 95 combined tackles, 11 quarterback pressures, nine pass deflections, six quarterback hits, four tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks, and an interception. Given that the Pack has faced Anzalone multiple times over the last five seasons and would continue to do so if he gets a new deal, the linebacker's relationship with Detroit's front office is a welcome development in Wisconsin.
LaFleur and Jordan Love are likely tired of having to game plan for Anzalone, so they would love to see him go elsewhere in free agency.
If he were to leave, it would put the Lions in an interesting spot, as they’re projected to be over the cap and still have to re-sign other key free agents. Detroit probably wouldn’t be able to find a suitable replacement with those restrictions, leaving the Lions to draft a rookie, which works well for the Packers.
Needless to say, we’ll find out in a matter of weeks if the Lions are bringing back one of their vet standouts or if they’ll be left scrambling to find a replacement.