Are the Detroit Lions REALLY Super Bowl Contenders?

Welcome Alex Anzalone! what's going on folks my name is Justin Fred and I'm joined once again today by Detroit Lions linebacker Alex anzelone Alex what's going on man how you doing I'm good I'm good how are you how have you been I've been all right man it's it's been uh it's been a few months yeah I think the the last time we spoke was in December uh it was for the the whole the chunky Sach hunger campaign so this is the the second time that we're getting to meet up on behalf of Campell chunky why don't you tell me a little bit about what brings you here today this time yeah so like you mention Campbell’s Chunky Spicy Nashville-Style Hot Chicken Soup um you know I've been part of their Initiative for um chunky Sachs hunger for you know two years now but I'm helping them launch their new product their Nashville style um hot chicken soup and uh you know that's it's it's awesome it's um I haven't tried it yet but um you know it's it's definitely a a great meal it's definitely a great you know for me personally the first thing I do when I look at the soup is I look at you know what's what's the what are the calories what what's the protein like has 13 grams of protein so for me personally it's a great soup after a training session great quick meal they could heat up nice and easy um and obviously being I live in Florida in the off season and um you know I spent four years in New Orleans so um I'm a fan of that southern food too yeah I mean look I'm lucky enough that I was sent a can of this in the mail and so I I I'm gonna try it right now really quick I I have not eaten yet today so I very hungry I have the Bowl here I don't know how I'm gonna do this uh no I'm not gonna like ASMR this or something but I'm gonna take one I'll eat the rest after with this but real quick we'll do a little taste test try not to ASMR the uh the mic yeah that's good see I'm not like a big spicy fan like I got very weak taste bus so I was I was a little I was like oh man how's this going to be that's good eat after this but I will because I do have weed taste buds there you go well I see I like spicy I I love the spicy it has to have a little kick especially when you get into that southern F Nashville style you got to get have to have a little kick I mean you were you were in New Orleans for a few years you gotta you gotta it's it's part of the culture yeah that's the number one thing I miss is the food and this this little this little goes down a little Memory Lane I'm excited yeah definitely I you're going to love it you're going to love it when you finally try it it is very good um so yeah I mean now we'll get into the actual like like talking about stuff talking about football and everything um you know the last time we spoke like I mentioned I Mindset After Last Season think it was December of last year you guys were gearing up for a playoff run think you proved a lot of people wrong unfortunately you know we know how that run ended I don't want to make you rehash the whole thing uh you wrote a a brilliant story about it on the The Players Tribune highly recommend it to anyone who's not already checked that out um but I wanted to ask you where's your you know what's your mindset like now that we're five six months removed from that lo you know where's where's your head at is that is that loss still kind of fresh in your mind yeah um I feel like whenever you have a loss like that it kind of you know like in an NFC Championship game it's it becomes like a core memory and you know it use as motivation is you know internally and within the team and um you know it's not something you necessarily you know look back on all the time or like feel like those first few weeks after the loss but at the same time going into this year you know what it takes to get there you know heartbreak it what it feels like to have that heartbreak um so you know just an experience that you go through in like anything in life you learn from it and you know you just have to start back to ground zero and you know that's that's really the Heartbreak of it all is that you have to you know you're back to zero and zero you have no wins and no losses and you gotta you know start all over again yeah that's that's the Heartbreak but also it's it's exciting because it's you know it's a fresh start ahead you guys added some really really impressive pieces to your defense this off season was already very talented defense now you bring in guys like DJ reer Carlton Davis Marcus Davenport of course Teran Arnold in the draft what do you think What's the Ceiling for the Lions Defense? the ceiling is for this Li's defense in 2024 yeah you know I think obviously the goal is to be a top 10 top five defense and you know now that like you mentioned we had some needs that we need to fill and um you know Brad and Dan addressed that quickly and you know within a trade with Carlton Davis and in the draft with two two corners of terion arold and STW from Missouri and um in the second round so um you know up front we got DJ reer you know who's not only a great player that's been around for you know I think he's going to his ninth year but he's obviously a great locker room guy and a great leader that you know we desperately need um on our team just having a young team so um you know I'm excited and like you mentioned Marcus Davenport I've played with him in New Orleans and you know he's all of a you know we we spent two pretty much two first round draft picks on him in New Orleans and unfortunately he's kind of got with the injury bug but he's piecing it all together this year and um it's fun to see him work and get ready for this year definitely and DJ and and Marcus specifically are guys I feel like they'll help make your job easier especially DJ just kind of eating up those blocks in in the middle of that defense making your job a lot easier uh Jack Campbell's Growth another guy on that defense someone you probably know very well is your fellow linebacker Jack Campbell of course you know Jack comes in last season decorated career at Iowa ends up making an all rookie team talk to me about the growth you've seen from him since he first stepped put on the field last spring in Allen Park to now a year later you know the player and the person that he's become yeah I mean you know I it's funny you see like a lot of Articles and a lot of hype around it and um you ask Jack and he'll be like I don't know what they're talking about and um you know I think the biggest thing is that he's um become comfortable with you know where he is you know H how to play um you know not not necessarily that he's taking some huge athletic or you know mental strides he's always been he's always been a great player just a matter of you know getting past that rookie year and it's hard to evaluate someone on the rookie year just be especially at a position like linebacker because things are so fast and there's a big adjustment and um unless you're like you know playing against NFL players it's hard to you know really make that adjustment only few can so um you know I'm excited for him going into a second year not not to have some crazy expectations for him and you know put all this pressure on him him being a first round draft pick but um you know just being a solid contributor on our defense yeah and whatever expectations were placed on him I feel like he's already lived up to them and and and capitalized on any any extra pressure that he's might have received uh great rookie season from of course uh there's Lebron James of the Lions Defense A's a great quote from someone who I'd say is probably one of the most underrated players in your team I feel like that's almost like a given it's thrown out there but that's defensive lineman Al mcneel uh he said a few months back that you were the LeBron James of the Lions defense that is obviously extremely high praise and you know look Alex I know you're a humble guy but uh what ises hearing a comparison like that mean to you and also do you do you agree with that sentiment yeah I mean I I could take that a few a few ways when I first heard I was like dang is he calling me old I'm only going to year eight uh but no it's obviously anytime the biggest the biggest you know compliment you can get is from your peers and you know who you work with every day and um you know a compliment like that it's not just saying I'm LeBron James as a player but he's saying as a as a leader and you know as you know IQ wise and you know football IQ not necessarily you know just being smart um so yeah it's it's definitely an honor and I try to try to do my best to you know be that guy because that's that's kind of the role I'm in I've been you know Captain the past three years and um you know to a team that's definitely had a rebuild and now we're capitalizing on that rebuild so you know it's it's fun to play with young guys like Al and I'm excited for him and it's fun it's fun to play him him being in front of me as a d tackle it's I'll tell you that much I mean he's a hell of a player that's for sure I feel like he's somebody that the NFL like the national NFL media and and just general fans need to pay more attention to because he's a fantastic young player last season you guys were you Underdogs No More? know I I would say like The Lovable underdogs right of the NFL you know a lot of people maybe didn't expect you to be as good as you were but that's kind of I feel like that's changed now right you went to the NFC Championship Game you were a few plays away from the Super Bowl have you and the other guys in the locker room kind of felt that perception change or do you kind of do you still approach with the same mindset do you still feel like you need to prove yourselves yeah no I I definitely feel like that's changed um you know not necessarily that we were an underdog last year but I you know we just didn't know how how far we can take it you know I knew we were going to be a good team and I think everyone else knew we were going to be a good team it was just a matter of like you know how far can we really take in and you know break down all those barriers that we had to break down in the playoffs um but yeah going into this year I definitely feel like it's changed I've been training here in Tampa in the offseason with a bunch of other guys on different teams and you know they're starting to chirp a little bit about the lons and how you know they're they're excited to play us and um you know you hear them you know talk a little trash and it just gets you excited because you know a few years ago it wasn't like that um so yeah it's it's it's going to be it's going to be a good year going forward and it's going to be a lot of guys you know not necessarily we have Target on our backs but we're going to be we're like there's no surprise as far as how good how good we're going to be yeah and you've seen that transformation pretty much firsthand like you've been here for that entire transformation coming over you know with Dan camell in his first year and stuff you guys are building something special in Detroit and I feel like you feel it and and the the fans in Detroit feel it we've seen glimpses of it in the past you know last year was a hell of a season but I know you're not satisfied I know the guys in that locker room not satisfied I know for sure Coach Campbell is not satis you all have one goal in mind uh you know we we know what that goal is so Are the Lions Super Bowl Contenders? what makes you confident that this team can accomplish that goal and bring the city of Detroit its first Super Bowl yeah I feel like the first thing is is like a prerequisite in the NFL you have to have the talent and the players to really get there and I feel like this is the first year where I'm like very confident that we don't have a ton of holes of and and needs that you know we may have had in years past so um we have proven players guys that you know the younger guys are going into like year four and you know have all that experience under the belt and um you know our offense is going to do their thing and you know we have great coaches that that lead us the right way um our defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn is you know such a great leader and obviously Ben Johnson gets a lot of hype too so it's you know I feel like we just have all the right pieces to really make a run at it and you know it's really opportunities in our hands and we it's just up to us what we do with it yeah and you mentioned Aaron Glenn you mentioned coach Ben Johnson as well I mean having both of them back both both both of those guys were receiving head coach interests from other teams this offseason I know Ben Johnson was obviously one of the the hottest candidates but even you know coach Aaron Glenn was I believe he interviewed with the Chargers he interviewed with teams Coaches Running It Back as well what's it been like having both of them back and having both of them stay kind of just run it back another time after you know unfortunately it end in heartbreak last year yeah just because you know like a Super Bowl window is not for 10 years it's probably for you know 3 four years and you know maybe shorter than that so um just to have that continuity between you know the OC and the DC and just having all the coaches pretty much you know stay the same is is huge it's huge for our young players it's huge for you know just being a leader people buying in people know what to expect um you know even even just scheme-wise terminology it's huge and a lot of teams have to deal with that transition year in and year out depending on you know who gets pried who gets hired and um you know fortunately for us we don't have to deal with that and it's a huge benefit yeah I mean you always see that with you know the best teams in the NFL are always the ones that have that continuity whether it's the the front office continuity the coaching staff continuity the Personnel like that's how you build a consistent winner in the NFL the constant turnover doesn't really work once you have that that continuity you know look at a team like the 49ers the Chiefs like any example out there now now the Lions uh I wanted to to end this by just giving you kind of an Detroit Fanbase opportunity to talk about this fan base and this community because you I feel like you've embraced the city of Detroit just as much as it's embraced you so I wanted to to give you the floor just talk about what makes this city this this community these fans you know all of it what makes it so special to you I know that's putting you on the spot but I know it's I know it's something that's important to you so you floor is well yeah I'd say I'd say this much I know in my players Tribune article I try to you know describe it but it's pretty like words don't really suffice to you know what it really means to be Aline and what it means to play in the city of Detroit just because the people the fan base um they're one of a kind they've been through so much um you know not only just with the lines or just with the history of the city it's it's you know there not many cities that have that you know history behind it and resilience and you know adversity that they had to deal with and it's really ingrained in the people and the community and um you know just every time I go back there for the season or in the offseason it just like you get a feeling of it just feels like home and um you know that's that's a credit to the people that live there and the people that you know have been there for so long it just you know one of the it's like the cool one of the cooler cities that you can live in in the country and you know has a has a bad rap you know historically in the past you know decade or two and um just to see the city come alive and revamp and um you know downtown be you know have awesome restaurants and places to go and you know the suburbs being awesome it's it's definitely a unique place and you know I'm proud to play there oh yeah man I I know that the the the Lions fans the city of Detroit they're proud to have you there as well uh yeah all right Alex I appreciate you taking the time again man this is great you know I I tried some soup we talked some football first yeah I'm so honestly I I will be having the rest of this after this because I that was good uh want to the best of luck next season you know let's let's hope this the year man I I think it could be fingers crossed yep for sure thank you