Money Gave Alex Anzalone Power To Choose Bucs
April 9th, 2026
Freedom to choose.
One of the most profound things Joe ever heard didn’t come from a man of the cloth or a college professor.
Rather, it came from the “King of All Media.”
Howard Stern offered up one of the smartest takes Joe ever came across. Stern once said, “Money is power, and power is freedom.”
Seven words never hit home for Joe like that.
Stern went on to explain that if a blue collar worker had squirreled away $20,000 in his bank account with no outstanding debts, if his job turns to crap and his supervisor is a jerk, the worker can tell his supervisor, “Up yours!” and have a financial pillow to fall back on for a few months while looking for a better job.
Those without money are basically slaves to their employer with little or no options.
And it seems Stern’s philosophy came into play when new Bucs linebacker Alex Anzalone chose Tampa Bay.
Anzalone, appearing on the “Jordan Schultz Report,” explained he had other offers from NFL teams for more money than the Bucs budgeted for him. But because he stashed away money he earned with the Lions, he didn’t have to chase the highest offer.
Anzaolone’s wife, Lindsey, is from Pinellas County. And Anzalone’s father, Salvatore, is a doctor in Naples. Anzalone, who will be 32 in September, said he had an emotional attachment to Tampa and wanted to play his final NFL years in his adopted hometown.
“I had some really strong offers from some teams,” Anzalone told Schultz. “And if you ask my agent, financially, it would have been better off to go to those places. There were some constraints in what Tampa could offer me.
“Tampa is home for me and my wife. We get to live in our house, get to live in full-time the rest of our lives. It means something to play in Tampa.”
Anzalone said he has had Bucs fans tell him they have renewed their season tickets just because he signed with the Bucs. He also said not wanting to start over in a strange city with zero emotional connections was another factor.
“The football aspect of being in Coach Bowles’ defense, that really excited me,” Anzalone said. “And I know that’s a perfect fit for me.
“And then you go through the family aspect and all these different dynamics, it is like, what do you weigh? Going into Year 10, I don’t have to think about the finances.”
Joe is intrigued to see how Anzalone, a fiery guy who is really good at pass defense, leads this defense. Joe has a suspicion the Bucs defense is going to look a whole lot different.
And not just because you won’t see the No. 54 on the field.
April 9th, 2026 at 10:13 am
This season is shaping up well for us, with the new additions
With the drafting coming up, we now know what we need
We will have experience depth at every position
I can’t wait for the season to get here
April 9th, 2026 at 10:30 am
$9M this year with $12M guaranteed is the most money that Anzalone has made yet in the NFL…. So we’re not talking about peanuts here….
Dude is 32 years old so that’s a nice payday on the backend of your pro football career. The fact that he already lives here, has roots in the area and potentially never has to move again is like icing on the cake for Alex and his family.
Looking forward to seeing much better coverage capabilities over the middle this year…..
Batman needs a Robin though….. Hope we can find a good ILB in the draft….
April 9th, 2026 at 10:31 am
Wow Joe! Love this post sir!
I have not lived in Tampa for about thirty years but if things were different and all things aligned I would move back in a heartbeat. I understand where he is coming from for sure. Smart dude I think.
Go Bucs!
April 9th, 2026 at 10:40 am
Also excited to see if our new additions like Alex Anzalone, A’Shawn Robinson & Al-Quadin Muhammad can help turn this defense around. There’ll be lots of new bodies out there for Game 1, but most of them will be veterans who’ve ‘been there, done that’. Hopefully that’s enough to get this whole defense to gel fairly quickly.
April 9th, 2026 at 11:01 am
You don’t often get this from a Player or in this business. Not genuinely or authentically at least. But with Anzalone and wanting to be in Tampa, having a love for the city and taking less to be here because of….that’s rare and I’m gonna enjoy it.
Def rooting hard for this guy and he couldn’t have started off on a better foot with Bucs fans as he has imo!
April 9th, 2026 at 11:03 am
Dan Campbell gave him that power by not wanting him back. He will adopt the Bowles Suck by mid September.
April 9th, 2026 at 11:07 am
He said he wanted to play here. Your narrative is really stale at this point.
April 9th, 2026 at 11:12 am
Good to know some people still want to play here. It’ll be interesting to see why ME really wanted to go at some point.
I watched the last episodes of the 50 year documentary a few nights ago, and was thinking that maybe Tom Brady inspired this.
Not directly necessarily but maybe Mike really just wanted to change things up for the sake of it and to give himself another fresh start & challenge to push him in the last stages of his career. It’s not the craziest idea
April 9th, 2026 at 11:15 am
a real example of a hometown discount. he should be an impact player, unlike some of the lazy inattentive scrubs that haunt the bucs defense.
April 9th, 2026 at 11:25 am
jcscycles Says:
April 9th, 2026 at 11:07 am
He said he wanted to play here. Your narrative is really stale at this point.
BINGO!!!!
GO BUCS!!!!
April 9th, 2026 at 11:31 am
Lather. Rinse. Repeat.