Terry Foster: Detroit Lions' Calvin Johnson Will Retire
DETROIT (CBS Detroit) - It appears Calvin Johnson is ready to officially announce his retirement from the Detroit Lions and the NFL.
97.1 The Ticket's Terry Foster is reporting Monday morning that the Detroit Lions' superstar is ready to retire.
"There was a period of time where he wasn't saying anything either way," says Foster. "And it gave optimism that perhaps he was going to come back, but everything keeps coming back to the same thing he's beaten up, he's tired, he wants to live a normal life, which I truly respect ... Calvin Johnson will retire."
And Terry says the line he's hearing today -- its a wrap. Johnson has been with the Lions since 2007.
The Detroit Lions have not commented or made an official statement regarding Johnson.
During the peak of his career nobody called him Johnson. He was Megatron, the best receiver in the NFL. He has 11,619 yards receiving and 83 touchdowns. In 2011 Johnson grabbed 96 balls for 1,681 yards and 16 touchdowns. A year later Johnson topped that with 122 catches for 1,964 yards and five touchdowns.
In early January, the Lions issued a statement, "We obviously have profound respect for Calvin and certainly understand and appreciate his decision to give proper thought and consideration to his football future."
Johnson cleaned out his locker and notified the Lions at the beginning of the year he might be making that move.
Johnson has no desire to play for another team and will leave after nine seasons and in relative good health. He stands to lose at least $24 million in salary but Johnson has already earned more than $160 million in career earnings. He is not known as a spend thrift and should be in good shape for the rest of his career. He could earn millions annually from investments alone from his nest egg.
Johnson has suffered a number of injuries which forced him to miss practices the past few seasons but only three games the past three years. However, Johnson was in obvious pain and took a more secondary role with the team. He finished the 2015 season with 88 catches for 1,214 yards and nine touchdowns. It was just his fifth most productive season of his career. But Johnson's 13.8 yards per catch was the lowest of his career.
He already has a ticket to Canton for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
In January, Terry spoke to former teammates who said they thought of retiring two years before they left. But they were not as detailed in their questions as Johnson has been. He's talked about it during the season and he has talked about it after the season ended. The issue of concussions plays a role. Johnson probably has had a concussion or two and does not want to go through it again.
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