Alex Anzalone deserves the security of a new deal, but how much would an extension cost the Lions, and how long do they want to commit to him

He's a key piece of this team and is likely to continue to be a key piece of this team in 2025, and lately, a lot of Lions fans have been in agreement on that. 

Anzalone is going into the final year of his contract in 2025, but he has no guarantees left on his deal and he's kind of just hanging out there in the wind. The Lions would likely never cut him or do anything to move on from him, but the fact is that an extension would probably make him a whole lot more comfortable. 

I worked with cap expert Joshua Queipo on coming up with a projection for what an extension for Anzalone would look like, and here's what we came up with: 

One year, $9 million deal with $7.5 million of that deal fully guaranteed. 

You'll notice that Anzalone's extension isn't really a long one. That's based on the fact that Anzalone is 30 years old. The Lions would be a lot more apt to go with year-over-year deals because of that, but that's not going to mean that they're chomping at the bit to replace him. It just means the Lions would be playing it safe.

This deal would keep him here until 2026, but if he continues to play well, the Lions may just keep on bringing him back. But it's unlikely that they would do a long-term deal just due to his age. 

Here, Anzalone gets a fully guaranteed $7.5 million, which should ease his worries about getting injured or what have you. This way, he gets paid no matter what, and the Lions can still have the money to take care of their big extensions they have to do with other players.