Unsettling Take From Dan Campbell

April 9th, 2026

New Bucs inside linebacker Alex Anzalone.

When fans think of tough-guy NFL coaches demanding aggressive play, most put Lions head coach Dan Campbell in their top-5 or top-10.

Right or wrong, that’s the perception of how Campbell runs his team and what he demands of players.

So with that in mind, the Bucs added two Campbell players in March for key roles: edge rusher Al-Quadin Muhammad and inside linebacker Alex Anzalone. However, Campbell said last week his 2025 team wasn’t “salty” enough and he’s focused on adding edgy players so the team can recover the swagger and fire it had a couple of years ago.

That stuck out to Joe because the Bucs believe Muhammad and Anzalone bring an edgy/fiery/nasty factor that’s been lacking on the Bucs. So why did the Lions let them leave?

“Everybody wants talent, I’ll always want talent, but it’s always nice to have a little bit of saltiness to you over the talent that lacks saltiness because that’s what we were in ’22, and a part of ’23,” Campbell said via ProFootballTalk.com. “We had talent, but we had some salty guys and we were highly competitive. We were willing to make it work, figure it out, so just getting a little bit of that edge back.”

Bucs fans should find out rather quickly whether Muhammad and Anzalone represent an upgrade from the defensive softness they’ve become too used to.

17 Responses to “Unsettling Take From Dan Campbell”

  1. Jack Burton Mercer Says:

    What else is he going to say?

  2. Boise Bucs Fan Says:

    The coaches have to coach it better, and the players have to play it better. Every time I hear that this season I’m doing a shot.

  3. Joe Says:

    Every time I hear that this season I’m doing a shot.

    Joe pities your liver.

  4. HopetheBucswin Says:

    Or coach will get them salty. Like Evans, he was so salty from 3-28 he left. Thanks Coach. It’s a Bucs life

  5. 813bucboi Says:

    said all last year BUCS have too many nice guys….

    Bucs only had 2 bad@$$es on the team last year…1 went to san fran and 1 went back into retirement(JPP)

    no sense of urgency, no “juice”….

    just a bunch of nice guys with a “moxy” QB who gets himself hurt lol

    GO BUCS!!!!!

  6. Permanently Moderated Says:

    Let’s give them a chance before we start passing judgement.

  7. Lakeland Says:

    I think Dan Campbell was disappointed with the outcome of the season
    The Lions were the overwhelming favorite to win the NFC
    And they didn’t even make the playoffs, that’s a tough pill to swallow

    But his words, are only words

    They added Christian Izien, that addition puzzle me

  8. Red Skeleton Says:

    Braswell will add some salt this year.

  9. #99 the big fella Says:

    What exactly is he going to say? he’s probably very disappointed that he lost those two players.. when a team loses players it always sounds as if the coach let them go. What if the player wanted to go somewhere else which could be the case here?

  10. 3.28.Evans Says:

    Todd the Charmin Dispenser will have them resembling cup cake bakers by October. Never fear.

  11. DoooshLaRue Says:

    Red Skeleton Says:
    April 9th, 2026 at 10:49 am
    Braswell will add some salt this year.
    _______

    Salt?
    More like Mrs. Dash!
    😄

  12. garro Says:

    Nothing worrying in that to me at all. Coaches these days rarely say anything worth writing down anyway.

    Go Bucs!

  13. pepsi Says:

    from a career standpoint – replacing Evans as best franchise receiver may never happen.. but on a singular season impact he is right. 1100 yards and 8-10 TDs can be found relatively easily. Finding ILB to get you 120 tackles, 12TFL, 4 sacks, 7 QA bits, an int, 5 pass deflects, 3 forced fumbles – thats an average Lavonte season and would be hard to expect even a guy like Sonny Styles to do that.

  14. BillyBucco Says:

    Doesn’t mean they didn’t also lose 2 guys that are Salty.
    Anzalone was actually there in 22 and 23 but Muhammed wasn’t.
    Im still convinced Hutchinson was the main reason Muhammed had 11 sacks.
    QBs roll the opposite way with him on the field.
    He had more chances.
    Still way better than the current Braswell.
    Wish we could trade for Lawerence with Mcollum, sign Diggs and draft Mesidor and Rodriguez.
    Vea, Lawerence, Robinson, Kancey, Roberts and Nacho.
    Diaby, Muhammed, Mesidor, Derek Moore 3rd Round, David Walker, Nelson.

  15. Daniel Z Says:

    Boise Bucs – please reconsider ss you’re probably going to die of alcohol poisoning by week 4.

  16. Fred McNeil Says:

    Speaking of pity for livers and alcohol poisoning I thought I must have had one of those Alien xenomorph things in my chest last night. Something ripped it’s way out my chest and ran into the bathroom. I was expecting to find one of those Alien things, but it turned out to be my liver. Go BUCS!

  17. Tdogg Says:

    His dumb play calling was a lot of why they lost games

 

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