As a liminal team, the Detroit Lions looked to veteran leadership from the outside at the start of the Dan Campbell regime. It is an ephemeral job, the kind of euphemism that comes with rebuilding efforts, job training that pushes out the trainer overtime. Alex Anzalone’s role was always to assist in rebuilding the linebacker corps—a unit that had struggled in numerous Lions regimes—and his first year in Detroit left many wondering whether that job would be a short one.
Instead, Anzalone found a renaissance, posting one of his best seasons in his career, and the Lions quickly extended him for three years.