If you thought linebacker Alex Anzalone returning to practice on Saturday was a sign that he and the Detroit Lions had agreed to a contract extension, or perhaps they were close, you would be dead wrong.
"No," Anzalone said on Saturday when asked if there was anything new with his contract.
Anzalone, who was a limited participant in the Lions' latest practice of training camp, was dealing with a hamstring injury upon arriving.
Based on the fact that he has now returned to practice, it would appear he was indeed dealing with an injury rather than that being a cover for a hold-in.
"I'm disappointed, I'll just say that. I'm disappointed," Anzalone said of his contract situation on Tuesday, before calling it a "weird situation."
Despite his obvious displeasure, Anzalone has made it quite clear that he will not miss games if he doesn't get the contract he desires.
"I want to retire a Lion," he added.
As head coach Dan Campbell said during the week, Anzalone is incredibly important to the Lions' defense. We saw evidence of that as soon as he returned from injury last season.
“You guys know how I feel about Alex, how we feel about Alex," Campbell stated. "He’s one of our dudes. we’ve leaned on him. He’s a productive player. We’re good, still talking. There’s no animosity here. There’s nothing like that.
"So, I’m not going to go into anything else outside of that. But we’re going to be good. We’re going to be good, and, yes, we’re going to need him.”
Anzalone is entering the final year of his three-year, $18.3 million contract.
He is no longer the Lions' highest-paid linebacker (but he should be), a distinction that goes to the less proven Derrick Barnes, who earned a three-year, $24 million deal this offseason.
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