Calvin Johnson: Feud with Lions won’t be resolved until team ‘figures out’ how to pay $1.6M he’s owed

By advantage of his excellent NFL profession as a member of the Detroit Lions, former All-Professional huge receiver Calvin Johnson was inducted into the Professional Soccer Corridor of Fame this 12 months — his very first of eligibility. Though Johnson’s profession may be very a lot a trigger for celebration, “Megatron” and the Lions are nonetheless not celebrating it collectively.

Within the years since his sudden retirement on the finish of the 2015 season, Calvin Johnson has turn out to be estranged from the one NFL team he ever performed. The dispute stems from the huge receiver being owed $1.6 million.

Johnson opened up concerning the feud between him and the Lions in an interview with Graham Bensinger.

“I am not gonna shut a chapter, however I am not gonna bend over backwards to try to do something, as a result of I did not do something. I did my job,” Johnson stated. “I am not saying they gotta repay me the $1.6 (million) all up entrance, however they want to determine a method to do it and never have me work for it. As a result of I already did the work for it.”

According to an August story by Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press, Johnson was pressured to repay the Lions $1.6 million of his signing bonus when he retired after the 2015 season. The Lions had allegedly supplied Johnson a three-year deal that might have paid Johnson $500,000 yearly for look charges and a $100,000 donation for Johnson’s charity, however Johnson didn’t take the provide, believing it confirmed the staff was “not critical” about resolving the difficulty.

In his interview with Bensinger, Johnson acknowledged that the best way Lions possession has handled him in his retirement relative to the best way different franchises deal with retired gamers is a serious a part of the issue.

“You see (Tony) Romo come out, you see Andrew Luck come out, you see how their homeowners maintain them,” Johnson stated. “Once we had been enjoying with the Lions, you see (possession) out at observe, however that wasn’t an on a regular basis factor after I was enjoying … They only see us as, we’re simply pawns on the market. We’re simply numbers. They do not see the personalities, they do not see the folks.

“I am simply now attending to be taught the possession. I by no means actually spoke to them after I performed.”

The post-career dispute between Johnson and the Lions is unlucky, contemplating that Johnson was one of many biggest gamers in each the latest and total historical past of the franchise. The No. 2-overall decide within the 2007 NFL Draft, Johnson made six Professional Bowls and was a four-time All-Professional, together with in 2012 when he led the NFL in receiving yards (for the second 12 months in a row) and receptions.

Johnson completed his profession with a complete of 731 receptions for 11,619 yards and 83 touchdowns. Along with being named to the Professional Soccer Corridor of Fame Class of 2021, Johnson was additionally named to the NFL’s All-Decade Staff of the 2010s.