By Blessing 
The Detroit Lions have made a subtle but meaningful adjustment to linebacker Alex Anzalone’s contract ahead of the 2025 season.
According to ESPN’s Field Yates, the team has added $250,000 to Anzalone’s $6 million base salary—and guaranteed the full amount. On top of that, they included some incentive-based bonuses to help sweeten the deal. While Yates didn’t provide exact details on those incentives, Dave Birkett later reported they could be worth up to $750,000.
That means Anzalone now has the chance to earn up to $1 million more this season, depending on performance.
While this isn’t a massive shake-up, it’s a noteworthy development considering Anzalone’s frustrations earlier this offseason. He missed the start of training camp due to a hamstring injury, and during that time, he made it known he felt underpaid.
“This is a weird situation. And it wasn’t on my end. Or my agent’s end,” Anzalone told reporters, expressing surprise that the team wasn’t more receptive to what he believed were reasonable terms.
Despite the tension, Anzalone returned to practice and made it clear he wouldn’t let the contract dispute affect his readiness for the regular season.
Lions head coach Dan Campbell quickly reaffirmed the team’s trust in their veteran linebacker.bb
“You guys know how I feel about Alex, how we feel about Alex,” Campbell said. “He’s one of our dudes, man, we’ve leaned on him, he’s a productive player… we’re going to be good. And yes, we’re going to need him.”