Jan. 25, 2026, 9:20 p.m. ET<\/p>\n
Of the Detroit Lions’ pending free agents<\/a>, linebacker Alex Anzalone is one of the first names the franchise would seemingly want to keep.<\/p>\n Anzalone has been a cornerstone of the Lions<\/a>‘ defense, starting 73 games over the past five seasons. The 6-foot-3, 234-pound linebacker has racked up 490 tackles, 32 quarterback hits, 26 tackles for loss, and nine sacks during his time in the Motor City.<\/p>\n While Detroit would like to get Anzalone back, one report from Essentially Sports’ Tony Pauline indicates that Anzalone could be leaning toward a free agency exit<\/a> and a reunion with former Lions defensive coordinator and now-New York Jets<\/a> head coach Aaron Glenn in The Meadowlands.<\/p>\n Pauline has been down at the East-West Shrine Bowl where he is reporting the potential Anzalone intel.<\/p>\n Talk of Lions players following Aaron Glenn to New York isn\u2019t new, but word in Frisco says the odds are high that Anzalone, the nine-year veteran who will become a free agent in March, will be playing for the Jets in 2026.<\/p>\n Anzalone is not expected to return to Detroit, and he\u2019s close with \u201cAG\u201d and wants to reunite with his former defensive coordinator. A reunion is more likely, given the Jets\u2019 need at linebacker, as Anzalone brings the talent, leadership, and intensity the team needs at the position.<\/p>\n Is Anzalone concerned Glenn may be on thin ice in New York?<\/p>\n I\u2019m told the answer is no, as the 31-year-old is closing out his career and really isn\u2019t looking long-term. – Tony Pauline, Essentially Sports<\/p>\n Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n A reunion with Glenn would make sense, especially if the Jets are willing to offer more in free agency than the Lions. But, Anzalone also recently hinted at a Lions return<\/a>.<\/p>\n Anzalone had a pair of 100-plus tackle seasons in 2022 and 2023. The Florida<\/a> alum registered 95 tackles, nine passes defended, four tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks and one interception in 2025.<\/p>\n For more\u00a0Lions<\/a>\u00a0coverage, follow us on X,\u00a0@TheLionsWire<\/a>, and give our\u00a0Facebook<\/a>\u00a0page a like.\u00a0Follow Josh on X,\u00a0@JoshOnLions<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jan. 25, 2026, 9:20 p.m. ET Of the Detroit Lions’ pending free agents, linebacker Alex Anzalone is one…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":705502,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2071],"tags":[95878,146,113,2506,7,147,6,52959,96502,98045,95882,96242,95895,95899,95883,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-705501","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-detroit-lions","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-detroit","10":"tag-detroit-lions","11":"tag-detroitlions","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-lions","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-sstssportsnfllions","16":"tag-sstsnlions","17":"tag-tagalex-anzalone","18":"tag-tagamerican-football","19":"tag-tagdetroit-lions","20":"tag-tagnfl-hub","21":"tag-tagoverall-neutral","22":"tag-tagsports-news","23":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115959456145510210","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=705501"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705501\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/705502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=705501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=705501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=705501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}