Getty Calvin Johnson gestures in a 2015 game against Dallas.
The Detroit Lions have been winning on the field in the present, but there is one element of their past that still hasn’t been taken care of.
Wide receiver Calvin Johnson has kept his distance from the team overall in spite of the fact that he went into the Hall of Fame last year. He’s wanted a future where he is a part of the team, but thus far, he hasn’t managed to get it.
Johnson spoke on The Richard Sherman Podcast on Volume Sports, and Sherman, the former Super Bowl winning cornerback, asked him for an update about where things stood between he and the team. As Johnson said, he has not been in the building or around the team, despite a desire for him to do so.
“No, I haven’t been in the building in a long time”
—@calvinjohnsonjr tells @RSherman_25 the Lions STILL haven’t invited him back
“I’m going to say no. I was going to tell you what happened the last time I was in the building, but I’m just going to stop and say no, I have not been in the building,” Johnson said with a laugh on the show.
Sherman goes on to say that the Lions should welcome Johnson back with open arms and not ask any questions because of what he means to the team and the franchise along with Barry Sanders.
Johnson, for his part, sent a message to the Lions that he wants to be in the mix to offer the young team some wisdom.
“I just really want to be around the guys. I want to be around the team because I know I have a lot to give back to the players. Not just my position, the DB room, I’m an open book,” Johnson said to Sherman.
What it would take to facilitate this remains to be seen, but Johnson was a former teammate of head coach Dan Campbell, who has spoken about his admiration for the player. That’s an opinion Johnson shares of Campbell.
With this in mind, it’s unlikely that the issue would come from the coaching staff, so it’s likely still coming from above, unfortunately.
With Johnson putting this new word out, we’ll simply have to see if anything changes in the days, weeks and months ahead.
Sheila Ford Wanted Resolution With Johnson
Do the Lions actually want to repair the relationship with Johnson? According to Sheila Ford Hamp the last time she spoke on the matter, that was a major goal for the franchise.
While Ford Hamp didn’t want to talk about the notable money end of things, she did say she hopes the Lions can work things out with Johnson for the future.
“I hope we can repair things with Calvin Johnson,” Lions owner Sheila Ford Hamp said.
“We’re going to continue to reach out to him, and hope that we can repair things.”
“I’m not going to go into the money issue, but I hope we can repair things with Calvin Johnson,” Ford said at the time as shown in Galli’s tweet. “He was obviously an amazing player for us. We’re going to continue to reach out to him and hope that we can repair things because I think it’s important that he comes back into the Lions family. We’d love it if he could, if he will. We are 100% behind him for his Hall of Fame ballots and hope he gets it this time. He was a great, great player and terrific person and we’d love to have him back with us, and working with us and helping us with everything.”
That was a pretty honest and direct statement which would seem to indicate that the Lions want to make things right with Johnson. When that was said, though, it was nearly two years ago. For things to have not turned in the right way by now is a bit frustrating, and the dispute could still be over money.
The ball remains in the court of both Johnson and the team. The Lions will likely have to meet him on the money issue eventually, and Johnson will have to be willing to listen. Hopefully, this can happen as part of Detroit’s revival on the field, which is being led by a pair of bright young wideouts in Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams.
Johnson’s Career Stats & Highlights
Since coming into the league with the Lions in 2007, Johnson wasted little time putting up great plays and amazing statistics.
In his career, Johnson put up 11,619 yards and 83 touchdowns and more than that, was a human highlight reel unlike any other receiver on the list.
Out of Georgia Tech, Johnson was labeled as one of the freakiest players in the draft and he lived up to that distinction in the NFL. Here’s a reminder of his talent:
Johnson shattered Rice’s record of 1,848 receiving yards during the 2012 season and was a stable force for the team, often playing through pain and discomfort on the field. He walked away following the 2015 season, leaving a gaping hole in Detroit’s wideout group.
Since, Johnson has been embroiled in a feud with the Lions for at least a handful of years over money that the team made him pay back upon retirement.
Johnson has a lot to offer his former team, so it would be nice if the Lions would simply find a way to patch up the relationship with their former leading wideout before it’s too late.
At this point, he seems to want that, and is sending a message that he is open to a reunion. All the Lions need to do at this point is listen.