After hinting at it for most of the offseason, Detroit Lions All-Universe wide receiver Calvin Johnson finally made it official Tuesday, retiring from the NFL after nine seasons. Even here writing this a few hours later, it’s still hard to believe.
Johnson had suffered from some nagging knee and ankle issues over the last two seasons, but in both of those seasons he still surpassed 1,000 yards and he didn’t miss a single game in 2015. There’s a big reason for me to believe we haven’t seen the last of Johnson. I think he was tired of losing in Detroit. Tired of toughing it out, preparing for every season only to never see any postseason success.
Johnson’s contract, all deserved, made it impossible to be traded. He came with a $24 million cap number this upcoming season alone and one the Lions were more than willing to pay. In fact, it’s because the Lions were bad that they could. No potential playoff or Super Bowl team could take that number onto their cap. Only a bad team could have traded for Johnson at this point. He knows it too.
Under the present NFL contract rules, when Johnson retired his current contract just goes into a kind of stasis. It sits there, unpaid, and if he decides to come back later, it starts back up at this exact same point. Meaning if next season Johnson wanted to come back, the Lions would be on the hook for the $24 million they would have paid him this season. If Lions don’t have the room for that number or don’t want to make room for that number in 2017, then they’ll cut Johnson and he’ll be free to sign with any team he wants. Maybe that’s what he’s thinking; sit out a year, get completely healthy, come back in 2017 and make the Lions cut him. I hope so. It’d be a damn shame if Megatron was really done with football.
Calvin Johnson, Wide Receiver
2015: 88 catches, 1,214 yards, nine touchdowns
First off, and I know I don’t even have to say this, but there’s no way to replace Calvin Johnson. Not right now. Not when he could still do the things he could do with this speed, size, strengths and hands. Nagging injuries or no, he was unquestionably still one of the best players at his position in the league and could do things no one else can. That no human being ever could.
Not only do the Lions not have a replacement for him on their roster right now, they don’t even have a guy that can start under contract except Golden Tate. So they have a lot of work to do and suddenly find themselves with $24 million in freshly-freed cap money with which to do it.
The obvious signing in this free agent group is Mike Wallace, fresh from his release from the Minnesota Vikings. Wallace hasn’t really had an elite season since 2011, but he’s also been part of a couple of teams who really couldn’t seem to figure out how to use him, or have the quarterbacks who could take advantage of the match-up problems he can cause. He can still run with anybody and, for once in his career, should actually come cheap.
The Lions draft at No. 16, one spot behind the Los Angeles Rams so unless I’m nuts, you can go ahead and forget about adding Laquon Treadwell to the roster there. The good news is every other wideout in the draft should be there if they want to go that route and they should. Of all the guys on the board at that point, Ohio State’s Michael Thomas looks like the best fit for Detroit at 6-foot-3, 212 pounds.
If they decide to draft another position in the first round, they could go for a receiver later. Ohio State’s Braxton Miller should be there when the Lions pick in Round Two. He needs a lot of work, but all the intangibles and tools are there. The secret star of this wide receiver group may be Illinois’ Geronimo Allison, but if the Lions want him, it’ll probably take a fifth round pick to get him. Allison is 6-foot-3 and 196 pounds and ran a 4.67 40-yard dash, which is why you don’t see him ranked higher. His arms are long and he has flypaper hands and will be a break out player for any team that puts him on the roster.
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