Buccaneers Sign Free Agent Linebacker Alex Anzalone
March 9th, 2026
A quality veteran linebacker has been added to the Bucs roster.
The Bucs wasted little time filling a glaring hole on their defense at inside linebacker. They’ve reached an agreement with Alex Anzalone, an anchor of the Lions defense over the past five seasons. Before that, Anzalone spent four years with the slimy Saints, which made him a third-round draft pick in 2017.
Per Adam Schefter, it’s a two-year deal for $17 million. Schefter said on ESPN TV that Anzalone lives in Tampa and really wanted to play for the Bucs.
The former Gator turns 32 in September and has been a productive tackler, but he was a contract holdout last spring and wasn’t happy with the respect he got late in his Lions days. The four-time Lions captain is a hell of a lot better than SirVocea Dennis. That makes Joe smile.
March 9th, 2026 at 1:31 pm
Hell yeah, now get Mike back and sign Hendrickson!
March 9th, 2026 at 1:31 pm
Nice. Really needed some help at inside LB.
March 9th, 2026 at 1:32 pm
Sounds like 2 great ideas to me!
March 9th, 2026 at 1:32 pm
Good pickup. Hope he’s got a few years left.
March 9th, 2026 at 1:33 pm
reports showing he turned down higher bids because he wanted to paly in Tampa.
Heard he is a dirty/feisty player as well. Need more of those firecrackers on Defense!!! Suh would be proud.
March 9th, 2026 at 1:33 pm
Good signings so far.
Let ME walk.
March 9th, 2026 at 1:33 pm
Good value signing. Doesn’t break the bank and he still has a ceiling he hasn’t reached.
March 9th, 2026 at 1:33 pm
Perfect signing Mr. Licht! Solid veteran in a major position of need and at a reasonable price. Doesn’t hurt that he already lives here and wanted to play for the Bucs, either.
March 9th, 2026 at 1:34 pm
Good move
March 9th, 2026 at 1:34 pm
That’s the stuff. It’s suddenly a beautiful day…
March 9th, 2026 at 1:34 pm
That is a good news!!! Well done
March 9th, 2026 at 1:35 pm
Sign M1K3, and Trey and call it a day.
March 9th, 2026 at 1:36 pm
I’m not sure if it’s the hair but anytime I watched the lions on d the past few years, seemed like he was somehow involved in every play. Feels like an upgrade to our LBS
March 9th, 2026 at 1:36 pm
Solid signing! Price not too bad either. Looking good so far.
March 9th, 2026 at 1:36 pm
Good signing
March 9th, 2026 at 1:36 pm
Tua signing with Atlanta, maybe. Could be a great signing. Dolphins let him get beat up too much.
March 9th, 2026 at 1:36 pm
If Mike leaves, we can sign Marshown Lattimore hahahahah
March 9th, 2026 at 1:37 pm
Wouldn’t mind trading a 4th for Thibodeaux
March 9th, 2026 at 1:37 pm
Great get!!
March 9th, 2026 at 1:37 pm
Nice but still a lot of holes on defense. If LVD doesn’t come back they still need to sign another LB in free agency and draft one.
March 9th, 2026 at 1:37 pm
Hendrickson is a Florida guy also, should be a no brainer if Bucs are serious.
March 9th, 2026 at 1:39 pm
If JL resigns #13 and signs Hendrickson, call it a day. Move on to the draft.
March 9th, 2026 at 1:39 pm
Keep it up
March 9th, 2026 at 1:41 pm
Cooking with gas now….let’s go pass rush now so Mike will take a discount after trying to run it up
March 9th, 2026 at 1:44 pm
Both of these signings are good and rank in the top 50 free agents available. Need some top 20 guys to bring it home now.
March 9th, 2026 at 1:44 pm
Good signing!!
Needed position also.
Address the pass rush now. Sign 13 let’s have a good draft
March 9th, 2026 at 1:45 pm
Very happy about this signing! Solid production and have to love someone that wants to play here! Apparently, someone else said that too….
March 9th, 2026 at 1:46 pm
With him and LD we have are starters in place which gives us room to draft another position in the first round.
March 9th, 2026 at 1:47 pm
With Anzalone and signing Hendrickson but Evans walks, would you blame the Bucs or be all right with Evans gone.
March 9th, 2026 at 1:48 pm
Great signing, now get the edge.
March 9th, 2026 at 1:51 pm
Good signing.
March 9th, 2026 at 1:54 pm
That Phillips guy from the Eagles got 4 years at 30 million a year from the Panthers, if that dude is worth $30, Hendrickson is worth $35 or 40, we aren’t getting him
March 9th, 2026 at 1:55 pm
past his prime, but we should be able to squeak a couple of good to decent seasons out of this former beastly tackling machine…
good veteran pick up, and if he has a slight revival or energy boost, this could be a heck of a signing…
but def solid…and we need solid at ILB badly right about now
March 9th, 2026 at 1:56 pm
better than nothing
March 9th, 2026 at 1:58 pm
Lppking more and more like Ioane first rd….maybe trade down spot or two and still land him….then draft Trotter and Lawson.
March 9th, 2026 at 1:59 pm
Only good signing so far and only true upgrade.
March 9th, 2026 at 1:59 pm
“Looking” , im sleepy, sorry
March 9th, 2026 at 2:00 pm
Ok. Let’s goo.
March 9th, 2026 at 2:13 pm
Yesss Anzalone is pretty good and Gainwell ok . Let’s go!!!
March 9th, 2026 at 2:14 pm
you can tell both players are from coaches bowles respects and probably asked them for their approvall this guy and gainwell
March 9th, 2026 at 2:15 pm
Reading various Lions fans responses, and it’s pretty mixed.
Half say the generic, ‘he was good, a leader’, etc – the other half say ‘thank god, he was washed up and too slow’.
Not generally what I’d want to see about signing a new guy – you want the vast majority of fans complaining about losing a good player.
The comments about being too slow are huge if true. This is the same team that though KJ Britt was ‘fast enough’ to play – meanwhile a simple eyeball test told me he wasn’t. Hopefully the comments on speed are just moronic fan opinions.
March 9th, 2026 at 2:16 pm
I’d like to see 1 more veteran LB signed to compete with Dennis and Draft a LB within the first 3 rounds. Also I don’t think it would hurt to sign a veteran DT.
March 9th, 2026 at 2:19 pm
I’m liking this thus far. Jason can stay another year
March 9th, 2026 at 2:20 pm
Love this move, even if he’s a bit up there in age. Still seems like he has plenty of gas in the tank, and is a very smart / aggressive player. We need some attitude on defense in the worst way possible.
March 9th, 2026 at 2:21 pm
Another very good value signing that upgrades a huge area of need!! Let’s go!
March 9th, 2026 at 2:22 pm
This is the kind of desperation signing the Bucs would make before they were relevant for a while. They’re back to being bottom feeders, thanks to Bowles.
March 9th, 2026 at 2:23 pm
Another bargain basement signing. Old and slow and his shoulder is destroyed He won’t make it past week 5. Wonder why he was a contract issue with Detroit
March 9th, 2026 at 2:27 pm
This has Licht signature all over it
Another old ancient ILB
SMDH
March 9th, 2026 at 2:38 pm
Evans to 49ers. Heard it here first. Time stamp me at 2:38 PM.
March 9th, 2026 at 3:11 pm
Alex (6’3″ & 234 lbs) has played about half his career at MLB so there’s our SVD replacement. Did a lot better with Detroit these last 5 years than he did in New Orleans his first 4 years.
Like someone wrote, not especially fast (4.63 sec 40-yd in his Combine), but his pass coverage skills look to be excellent (69.7% career Completions Allowed rate). Missed tackles looked to be a problem earlier in his career, but these last 2 yrs with the Lions he averaged about 7.5% Missed Tackles.
I like that Lions players considered him to be a leader. Bucs will desperately need that in the ILB room since we’ll be quite young I’m sure.
March 9th, 2026 at 3:33 pm
Good signing. Not great because of his age, but he’s healthy and productive. I like it.
March 9th, 2026 at 3:33 pm
That’s awesome between him and David will have wheelchairs and walkers on the sideline for our linebackers
March 9th, 2026 at 3:43 pm
How about getting some younger guys with speed? 2 year rental of old and slow has failure written all over it. This is a cheap stopgap measure. There better be some more signings coming with more potential than this. Anzalone can platoon with LVD maybe. Still need a stud MLB not from the draft.
March 9th, 2026 at 3:55 pm
My family in Michigan are rabid Lions fans. They said he was awesome the first two years there but has slowed way down since and was getting a lot of flack from the fans for missing tackles. Marginal improvement over David.
March 9th, 2026 at 5:22 pm
Defense Rules Says:
Like someone wrote, not especially fast (4.63 sec 40-yd in his Combine), but his pass coverage skills look to be excellent (69.7% career Completions Allowed rate).
———
4.63 I more than good enough – and not slow. But that was also a very long time ago. What is concerning is all the comments from Lions fans I see saying the guy couldn’t cover anyone anymore, that TEs and RBs were running right by him. Of course fans are generally morons and have no idea what they’re watching — just look at all the moronic comments about Dean not being able to cover guys when he was literally in zone and handing off coverage, and these dopes think he gave up on the play. But, with that said, I’m seeing enough people saying the same thing to make me a bit concern – that mixed with the idea he’s a good run stuffer, and this coaching staff made the same argument when letting White go to start the disaster that was KJ Britt, who was clearly too slow to play.
The combine for him was, what, 10-years ago? It sounds like his coverage skills only started to collapse the last couple of years.
BUT, again, it’s dumb fan opinions – so I’m not down on it since I haven’t watched any tape yet, but just pointing it out. I much prefer when opposing fans are throwing a hissy fit saying it’s all doom and gloom, that generally tells me the guy at least plays well enough to make fans think he’s good. In this case, I’m seeing a lot of people expressing relief he’s gone, which again, is a bit concerning.