Alex Anzalone: Split with Detroit Lions 'just came down to finances'
Alex Anzalone said leaving the Lions for the Bucs was a financial decision, not about his play, and Dan Campbell wanted him back.
Veteran linebacker Alex Anzalone said leaving the Detroit Lions in free agency to join the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was strictly a financial decision on behalf of his former team. Speaking on the Schultz Report , a YouTube show hosted by NFL insider Jordan Schultz, Anzalone said that the decision had nothing to do with his level of play and that Lions coach Dan Campbell said he wanted him back on the team. "It didn't come back to, like, 'You weren't playing well.
' It didn't come down to down to Dan saying like, 'Yeah, we want to move on. ' Dan told me he wanted to come back. It didn't come down to that," said Anzalone, who joined the Buccaneers on a two-year deal after five seasons in Detroit.
"It literally just came down to finances and what they could and couldn't afford. And you know, that's kinda just the nature of the beast, it's the business. " Anzalone, 31, had been vocal about wanting a new contract going into last season, telling media that he wants to sign an extension and retire a Lion during training camp.
Detroit instead signed linebacker Derrick Barnes, 26, to a three-year contract worth $25. 5 million. That, in some ways, contributed to the Lions being out of money for Anzalone this offseason.