Lions finally give Calvin Johnson the treatment he’s deserved since he retired

On March 8, 2016, Calvin Johnson retired from the NFL after spending his entire nine-year career with the Detroit Lions. He shined as a bright light in an otherwise abysmally dark time for the franchise.

It has been almost nine years, the same length of time as his career, since he retired and he’s finally getting the recognition from the franchise he undoubtedly earned. On September 30, 2024, Megatron will be inducted into the “Pride of Lions” (Detroit’ Ring of Honor).

By the way, Johnson was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2021. So yeah, this is kind of super overdue, but not necessarily unwarranted.

Calvin Johnson’s post-career path to the Pride of Lions has been rocky

Barry Sanders is the best Lion in history, undoubtedly. If you’re under the age of 50, you’re probably going to say the second-best Lion is Calvin Johnson. 

In his nine seasons in the NFL, Megatron logged 11,619 yards and 83 touchdowns off of 731 receptions. He was first-team All-Pro three times and second-team once, a six-time Pro Bowler, the receiver yards leader in the NFL twice, the receptions leader once, and he was on the 2010s All-Decade team, and a first-ballot Hall of Famer. The guy was/is a monster. 

So why did it take the Lions so long to induct him into their ring of honor? Well, that’d be because he had issues with ownership.

On March 14, 2012, Johnson signed an eight-year extension for $132 million, making him the highest-paid wide receiver in the NFL. He retired in 2015, meaning he did not play out the entirety of his contract. Because of this, the Lions forced him to repay $1.6 million of his signing bonus, which understandably rubbed him the wrong way.

To be fair to the Lions, a contract is a contract, so it makes sense, but it also makes sense for Johnson. He was one of, if not the best, player on the team for the majority of his career. He did his job at a historically high level, but not for as long as the Lions wanted him to. It’s a tough problem.

The Lions did try to give Johnson an out. They said they would pay him $500,000 a year for three years for appearance fees and $100,000 as a charitable donation. Essentially, they would recoup their money by having Calvin have a kickback and chill with the team. 

That irked him. He said that the team was, “not serious.” To Calvin, the team just wanted his image, not the money. So yeah, again, that also makes sense.

This isn’t the first time the Lions have forced players to repay money on a contract they didn’t fulfill. Take Barry Sanders: He signed a six-year contract, retired two years later, then was forced to pay back around $7 million. This led to a little bit of hostility between those two parties as well, but that beef has since been squashed.

With the news of Megatron’s induction into the “Pride of Lions', it seems like his beef with the team has been squashed, and that’s more than likely due to the change in ownership. On June 23, 2020, Martha Firestone Ford stepped down as the owner of the Lions, and her daughter, Sheila Ford Hamp, took over. 

Sheila's parents had been the owners of the team from 1961 to 2019, and it’s very clear that she’s running the ship in a different direction than them. The Lions are winning and they’re making amends with former players. 

Calvin Johnson’s induction seems like just another good omen for Detroit, and you have to believe that the Monday night game on September 30th will be a can’t-miss event for the city.