Adam Schefter @AdamSchefter
Calvin Johnson told Lions he plans to retire. Full story on ESPN: http://es.pn/1POiQqw
Calvin Johnson told Lions he plans to retire. Full story on ESPN: http://es.pn/1POiQqw
Calvin Johnson to Retire
- Thread starter Greg29fan
- Start date
He spoke publicly a couple of years back about playing through a concussion and suffering from nerve damage afterwards.
Meanwhile, Roger Goodell continues to focus on the Deflategate appeal rather than things that actually happened, and actually harm the NFL.
Health concerns I'd think heavily impacted this decision.
We may start seeing some guys retire sooner than before because concussions. Will be interesting to see.
We may start seeing some guys retire sooner than before because concussions. Will be interesting to see.
Quick google search also turns up Dan Dierdorf as a HOFer who never won a playoff game.
There was at least one year when I thought Megatron was the league's outstanding player at any position. Even allowing for the possibility that WR stats will continue to lose meaning over time he's a no doubt about it HOFer to me.
There was at least one year when I thought Megatron was the league's outstanding player at any position. Even allowing for the possibility that WR stats will continue to lose meaning over time he's a no doubt about it HOFer to me.
His will be an interesting case study on Hall of Fame voting. No question that he was one of the game's very best players for several years, but if you look at his career stats vs other WRs, his numbers fall pretty flat on top of the fact that the Lions essentially won nothing while he was on the team:
- 27th in career receiving yards
- 22nd in career TDs
- 43rd in receptions
I don't think Johnson makes the hall of fame. He was certainly great -- but retiring at thirty is a hard way to get into the Hall unless you have Barry Sanders-level productivity. And there isn't a wide receiver in league history with that kind of impact.
Yeah, but Megatron will have a few more seasons on his resume once Unicron / Belichick reconstitutes him as Galvatron.
In the seasons Calvin played (2007-15), he ranks:
1st in receiving yards
1st in TDs
7th in yards/reception
7th in receptions
2nd in yards/game
I mean.... that's pretty damn dominant. I have a hard time seeing him not make the HoF, but you never know. The NFL is weird. Voters might hold it against him that he retired because of injuries.
edit: as an aside, Gronk ranks 17th in yards/game (ahead of Dez, VJax, Boldin, Maclin, Jordy, Cobb), 5th in TDs, 5th in yards/target.... and he's done this in 80 total games.
1st in receiving yards
1st in TDs
7th in yards/reception
7th in receptions
2nd in yards/game
I mean.... that's pretty damn dominant. I have a hard time seeing him not make the HoF, but you never know. The NFL is weird. Voters might hold it against him that he retired because of injuries.
edit: as an aside, Gronk ranks 17th in yards/game (ahead of Dez, VJax, Boldin, Maclin, Jordy, Cobb), 5th in TDs, 5th in yards/target.... and he's done this in 80 total games.
Of course that's only an apples-to-apples for other WRs who have played from 2007-2015, as all WRs who either entered the league after 2007 or left before 2015 have fewer seasons contributing to the counting stats.
I can't be the only one thinking he'll unretire at some point.
Apparently he's been financially smart with his earnings. He can certainly stay retired. However, the competitive side may get the best of him come mid-season when certain SB contenders are calling.
Apparently he's been financially smart with his earnings. He can certainly stay retired. However, the competitive side may get the best of him come mid-season when certain SB contenders are calling.
It's not worth contemplating, I don't think.
But if it happened, I'd die of priapism.
Johnson will be an interesting HoF case. Obv his career is too short for him to have really impressive career totals; 731/11619/73 is just not that impressive in this area. Johnson also benefited by playing in an extreme pass-happy offense: five of the last six Detroit seasons rank in the top 40 all-time in pass attempts, with 2012 (Johnson's best year) #1. And even during his too-short career he had durability issues: he only started 16 games in a season four times.
With those kinds of demerits, he would need to have a crazy-high peak. But it's not really there. Johnson was only top-5 at his position in four or five seasons (definitely 2011-2013, maybe 2008 and 2010, not any other years). He only once led the league in receptions, twice in yards, once in TDs. He was a dominant player, but not in a way that stands out from other dominant players (his 3-year peak isn't any better than Antonio Brown's last 3 years, for example). His three-year peak is great, but not historically unprecedented once you adjust for era and team context, and that 3-year peak is basically his whole case.
Sanders is an interesting comp, as he only played 10 seasons also. But in those 10 seasons he won an MVP and four rushing titles (2nd three other times) and was first-team all-pro 6 times, and he was a probably top-3 RB every single year of his career. Johnson doesn't have a similarly sustained run of dominance.
A better comp is Sterling Sharpe. Sharpe only played seven seasons before retiring due to injury, during which was first-team all-pro 3 times and led the league in receptions 3 times, yards once, and TDs twice. His value was also tied up in basically four or five years. He never got near the HoF. Terrell Davis is also an all-peak, no-career guy, and he hasn't been able to get in.
With those kinds of demerits, he would need to have a crazy-high peak. But it's not really there. Johnson was only top-5 at his position in four or five seasons (definitely 2011-2013, maybe 2008 and 2010, not any other years). He only once led the league in receptions, twice in yards, once in TDs. He was a dominant player, but not in a way that stands out from other dominant players (his 3-year peak isn't any better than Antonio Brown's last 3 years, for example). His three-year peak is great, but not historically unprecedented once you adjust for era and team context, and that 3-year peak is basically his whole case.
Sanders is an interesting comp, as he only played 10 seasons also. But in those 10 seasons he won an MVP and four rushing titles (2nd three other times) and was first-team all-pro 6 times, and he was a probably top-3 RB every single year of his career. Johnson doesn't have a similarly sustained run of dominance.
A better comp is Sterling Sharpe. Sharpe only played seven seasons before retiring due to injury, during which was first-team all-pro 3 times and led the league in receptions 3 times, yards once, and TDs twice. His value was also tied up in basically four or five years. He never got near the HoF. Terrell Davis is also an all-peak, no-career guy, and he hasn't been able to get in.
So I don't know the exact nfl rules and I'm sure there are many around here smarter than me that can answer, but I can't imagine he can sign with another club since he retired. He would still be property of the lions until his contract runs out in 2019. Imagine if any player could say they are retiring mid season then "change" their minds and latch on with a contender 2 weeks later?
I should have Googled this first:
So the Lions will have to release him before he can join another team.
I'm not buying this as legitimate at all. He wants out of Detroit, and I can't say I blame him at all. He's 30, still extremely talented, and is a few more seasons away from putting up sure-thing HOF numbers.
He wants to play for a contender while he's still in his prime. If Detroit releases him, you have to believe he'll sign on with a team that has a great QB and a real shot at a title.
He wants to play for a contender while he's still in his prime. If Detroit releases him, you have to believe he'll sign on with a team that has a great QB and a real shot at a title.
So am I reading that right that if he takes 2 years off and wants to come back his contract will start up again and he'd be a FA 2 years later?
I read on rotoworld today that the lions want to redo his contract if they can talk him out of retiring. He's due just shy of 16 mil with a 24 mil cap hit. I think if his goal was to get out of Detroit he could just refuse to rework the contract and they'd almost have to cut him loose. This really feels like genuinely wanting to retire
I don't think that is what it is saying. I think it is saying that if he comes back in 2 years he still has to serve out the last 4 years of his contract.
This is basically what happened with Ricky Williams when he retired. Miami still "owned his rights," so to speak. He wouldn't be able to just retire and go to another team. He would still have to play for the Lions if he decided to play again, which would probably be enough to keep him away from football.
Does he have to give back part of his signing bonus? Wasn't that one of the issues when Ricky retired- that he couldn't afford to return the bonus he forfeited?
This is a bit of begging the question though, isn't it? Couldn't the causation go the other way - that they were so pass heavy because of him?
And also that they threw the ball so much because they were terrible, played from behind a lot and had no other weapons.
The list of HOF or near-HOF pass catchers who had as little help as Calvin Johnson is awfully short.
Also with the a few other recent 'early' retirements and what's becoming known about the long term health implications of playing football, no one should really be surprised by this. Bummed out because he's fun to watch, sure, but not surprised.
I believe that's correct. Johnson has something like 3+million dollars in signing bonus remaining. He would have to forfeit that money if Detroit requests that he returns it.
Ricky was sued by the Dolphins and would have had to return over 8 million dollars. He probably couldn't afford to return it because his contract with the Saints is known as one of the absolute worst contracts in the history of sports.
Agreed. If he wanted out of Detroit, retirement would be a bad option. He could just demand a trade or hold out.
There are a few. Steve Smith, Tim Brown, and Andre Johnson are a few names that come to mind.
Smith is a good example of the importance of team context. In 2005, he had 103/1563/12 (winning the WR Triple Crown) for a team that attempted 449 passes. When Johnson had 122/1964/5 in 2012, the Lions attempted 740 passes.
I was thinking about this too. There must be something though in the rule book not allowing a team to trade the rights of a retired player or I'd have to imagine we would have seen a player force a team's hand and try it already