Calvin Johnson said again Saturday he is not coming back to football, and the potential Hall of Fame wide receiver didn’t like the way his relationship with the Lions concluded when he retired in March 2016.
“I just didn’t feel like I was treated the way I should have been treated on the way out. That’s all,” Johnson said, via Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press. “I mean, it’s all good. I’m not tripping. I don’t feel any kind of way, just hey, that’s what they did. Hey, it is what is.”
Johnson declined to go into specifics regarding this. Birkett points out the Lions attempted to recoup some of Megatron’s signing bonus, reporting Johnson paid $320K — one-tenth of the $3.2MM the Lions could have collected under the CBA — when he retired. The parties agreed to a reduced payment last year, Birkett notes. This retirement unfolded smoother than Barry Sanders‘ did in 1999. The Lions filed a grievance against the Hall of Fame running back, and he paid the team back in installments.
Johnson also alluded to a conversation he had with the team regarding the reason he was retiring. Last year, the receiver did say it would have been harder to follow through with the early-retirement plan if the Lions were in a better position to compete. But he maintained this NFL exit centered around his health.
“They told me they wouldn’t trade me if I came back and stuff like that, but it wasn’t about that,” Johnson said, via Birkett. “It was about how I felt.”
Here’s the latest from the NFC.
- Mike Zimmer underwent an eighth right eye operation this week, Matt Vensel of the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports. All of these procedures have occurred since November of last year. The fourth-year Vikings coach said he’s unsure if this will be the last one. Zimmer missed Week 13 of last season due to eye troubles and acknowledges he will experience vision problems in his left eye at some point.
- Zimmer said the franchise carefully took Michael Floyd‘s off-the-field history into account before signing him. “We always try to weigh every situation, but you know he’s from here. I think he has a good support system with Harrison Smith and Kyle Rudolph partly,’’ Zimmer said (via Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press) of two former Floyd Notre Dame teammates. “So a lot of those things were factored in and entered into it.” A Floyd arrest for a super extreme DUI led to the Cardinals releasing him last season.
- The Redskins don’t plan to move one of their outside linebackers to defensive end before training camp. The team drafted Ryan Anderson to join a stable of outside ‘backers that includes Ryan Kerrigan, Trent Murphy, Preston Smith and Junior Galette. But none will be tried at 3-4 end, John Keim of ESPN.com reports. Washington may have a crowd here, but it’s not full of reliable players. Murphy will serve a four-game suspension, and Galette hasn’t played since 2014. Free agents Stacy McGee and Terrell McClain preceded Jonathan Allen‘s arrival in what will be a new-look defensive end corps. Washington lost Chris Baker and cut Ricky Jean-Francois this offseason.
any mention of Redskins changes, etc should also mention that Joe Barry was fired. The worst defensive coordinator in the history of the league was let go and replaced with someone who is actually aggressive and not satisfied to “Rush 4 and drop 7” every time. The 85 Bears Defense is finally back…and will replace last years Teddy Bears Defense.
The “I didn’t like the way they treated me but it’s all good” stuff out of retired players is kind of grating after a while.
Calvin, you are retired, just leave it at that. We all know you are not happy about having to return some money and the Lion’s were not willing to trade you…just let it go.
Im sure that Calvin called up the reporter to tell him that too. So weird to see people getting upset at hearing an honest answer to being asked a quedtion.
“Lions not willing to trade Calvin” never came up. They would have for sure to get at least something for him.