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A Lion’s Share: Calvin Johnson Retires from the NFL

By Eric Robinson

Dec 27, 2015; Detroit, MI, USA; Detroit Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson (81) takes the field before the game against the San Francisco 49ers at Ford Field. Mandatory Credit: Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 27, 2015; Detroit, MI, USA; Detroit Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson (81) takes the field before the game against the San Francisco 49ers at Ford Field. Mandatory Credit: Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports /
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Nine seasons of impressive numbers. Nine seasons of haunting defenses. Nine seasons of changing the position as we know it.

Wide receiver Calvin Johnson took a bow with the announcement of his retirement from the National Football League. At the young age of 30, one of the best playmakers of this era decides to call it quits. With the impact made throughout his entire career, Johnson has every right to. Yes, he may still have another three solid years left in him at least.

However, the man they call Megatron has done more than enough in his nine seasons for the Lions franchise, the city of Detroit, and the National Football League as a whole.

Johnson walks away from the game of football with 731 catches, 11,619 yards, and 83 touchdowns. Johnson has only had two seasons of under 1,000 receiving yards, but he also set the single-season mark of 1,964 yards back in 2012. The previous 2011 season, Megatron caught a career-high 16 touchdown catches to go along with 1,681 yards.

It’s rare to see a player retiring while still having a placement amongst the best in the league. For Lions faithful and football fans everywhere, we’ve seen this before. The retirement of Barry Sanders in 1999 as Sanders was coming off a 1,491 yard season in 1998 and two years removed from his 2,053 yard season. Clearly, still one of the best. In the case of Sanders, he gave it his all for the Lions with very little playoff success and the same is applied to Calvin Johnson.

It’s amazing to see that Megatron only reached the playoffs twice in his career with no victories to show for. For the moment, put that aside. What we have walking away is a player with that “once in a lifetime” tag. Johnson came out of Georgia Tech to enter the 2007 NFL Draft at an amazing 6’5 239 pounds. Johnson impressed greatly in his pre-draft process and was selected by the Lions with the 2nd overall pick.

“Nine seasons of haunting defenses”

Over the course of his career, Johnson has been relied greatly to produce and he never fell short of it. The presence of Johnson changed the game. He changed the way teams desired to apply coverage. He changed game-plans. He changed the standard set for elite receivers. Now we won’t see #81 on the field in blue and silver for Detroit. No longer will we see the amazing catches. No longer will we see the versatility of the 240 pound pass-catcher.

Despite his shortcomings of not being able to bring a championship to Detroit, the amazing talent gave it his all and because of that we tip our cap to you Megatron. Thank you, Calvin.

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