The Detroit Lions would really like to repair their relationship with Calvin Johnson. Calvin Johnson would really like the team to give him back the seven-figure portion of his signing bonus he was forced to return to the franchise after announcing his retirement in early 2016.
After Lions president Rod Wood told reporters that bringing back Johnson into the fold was considered a “high priority” for the team, the greatest receiver in the history of the franchise laid out how ownership could go about doing that.
Calvin Johnson surprised the entire football world when he announced his retirement last month. Apparently, one teammate didn't believe Megatron was seriously considering walking away. Calvin Johnson was a member of the inaugural board of directors for the Innocence Project. He also serves on the board of the Georgia Innocence Project. In September 2003, his book Exit To Freedom was published by the University of Georgia Press. Calvin Johnson: Pos: WR, Career: 135 G, 84 TD, 3xAll-Pro(1st), 6xProBowl, Lions 2007-2015, 2x Yds Leader, born GA 1985. Calvin Johnson II, French Camp Academy, Athlete Three-phase contributor who played QB, DB, and returned kicks as a senior. Calvin Johnson Jr. (born September 29, 1985) is a former American football wide receiver who spent his entire nine-year career with the Detroit Lions.He played college football at Georgia Tech, and was drafted by the Lions second overall in the 2007 NFL Draft.
Via The Detroit Free Press:
“They already know what they got to do,” Johnson told the Free Press at the annual camp he runs for local high school students Saturday in metro Detroit. “The only way they’re going to get me back is they put that money back in my pocket. Nah, you don’t do that. I don’t care what they say. They can put it back, then they can have me back. That’s the bottom line.”
Seems pretty simple.
Even if the Lions hadn’t forced Johnson to pay back that sum of money, you have to wonder how willing he’d be to act as an ambassador for the franchise. After all, he says he felt like the franchise did not treat him well during his time in Detroit, and Johnson also implied that the Lions essentially forced him into retirement by refusing to terminate his contract with the team.
Via The Detroit News:
“I mean, I thought about it,” Johnson said, when asked if he thought about changing teams. “Just like in basketball, you know, guys, they create these superteams. But it’s not quite like that in football where I had the freedom just to go.
“I was stuck in my contract with Detroit, and they told me, they would not release my contract, so I would have to come back to them. I didn’t see the chance for them to win a Super Bowl at the time, and for the work I was putting in, it wasn’t worth my time to keep on beating my head against the wall … and not going anywhere.
“It’s the definition of insanity,” Johnson said with a chuckle.
When asked by the interpreter if that was why he retired, Johnson said, “Yep, and the body.”
This is not the first time Detroit has had to repair a relationship with a former Lions great. The team went through a similar situation with Barry Sanders after — wait for it — forcing him to repay $1.88 million of his signing bonus when the Hall of Fame running back abruptly retired before his age-31 season. The Lions initially asked Sanders to return $5.5 million and even sued him after his refusal to comply. The team never paid Sanders that money back but time eventually healed those wounds and the running back has made appearances at several games in Detroit. Adobe photoshop cc 2018 mac crack reddit.
Based on the collective bargaining agreement signed by the NFLPA in 2011, NFL teams are entitled to one-tenth of the prorated signing bonus remaining on the contract of a retiring player. That would have been about $320,000 in Johnson’s case, but sources told the Detroit Free Press that Johnson paid at least “seven figures.” It’s easy to understand why he might be salty.
Now Johnson has the leverage. He seems to be doing just fine without the Lions in his life. Will the Lions cave? They’ll have to if they don’t want to alienate a future Hall of Famer.
Last year, former Lions receiver Calvin Johnson made clear the terms for rebuilding the bridge between player and team: Refund the signing bonus money they made him repay when he retired.
The team has yet to refund the refunded $1.6 million, which means that things have gotten no better between the Lions and their best player since Barry Sanders.
Via Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press, Johnson recently said that his relationship with the team currently is “nil.”
“There’s no back and forth there,” Johnson said. “That’s fine with me. I’m handling my business, I’m sure they’re handling theirs.”
Calvin Johnson Lions
Johnson has spoken to the team’s receivers via Zoom at the request of Robert Prince, who continues to serve as the position coach. Otherwise, there’s nothing.
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With ownership recently transitioning from Martha Firestone Ford to her daughter, Sheila Ford Hamp, maybe the team will have a change of heart.
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Some would say that the Lions shouldn’t give Johnson his money back. The reality, however, is that if he hadn’t retired when he did, the Lions likely would have cut him — extinguishing any responsibility to refund bonus money.