Calvin Has Officially Retired

[UMRules06]

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/...n-retiring-no-chance-super-bowl-detroit-lions

 

[kalinecountry]

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/spo...ore/103609210/
Megatron: Playing for Lions ‘wasn’t for me anymore’.
Detnews

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/sp.../11/megatron-playing-lions-anymore/103609210/
Calvin Johnson slams Lions: ‘I didn’t see a chance for them to win a Super Bowl’.
Calvin Johnson retired, and part of it had to do with not thinking the Lions were competitive enough.
PrideOfDetroit

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2017/07/11/did-the-lions-successfully-bluff-calvin-johnson/
Did the Lions successfully bluff Calvin Johnson?
PFT

 

[Tonyballs2]

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/...n-retiring-no-chance-super-bowl-detroit-lions

Now this putz decides to talk??? lol. We didn't hear boo from this guy for 9 yrs!!!! And he has the balls to say he was "stuck" in a contract?! No, no no no no!!! YOU Calvin Johnson signed your second contract with Detroit. Nobody forced you to reup with Detroit, you fucking phony. You should have forced the hand of the organization to trade you or DON'T re-sign. Pretty simple really. Now we gotta hear how he was done wrong by the Lions and their losing ways. Bah, who cares anyways though, right?! You played WR for the Lions. Nobody held you accountable for shit. Blame goes on the QB in this fucking sport anyways!!! lol. Go fuck yourself, CJ. I just lost a ton of respect for this man.

And for the record. I'm not mad at CJ because he's dissing the Lions. I get it. These guys want to win a ring. Completely understood. But to bash on this organization 2 yrs after you're retired is weak and petty. Johnson should have done something about it after his rookie deal was up. Either force the Lions to trade you or publicly put the pressure on the Lions to go out and acquire players. But nooooooooo, he chose to take money and shut his fkn mouth. Then blame it on the Lions why he retired. What a coward!!!

 

[tigermud]

Same reason Barry hung em up, got tired of losing and couldn't get out of contract to go elsewhere man the similarities to Barry are virtually the same. Smh

 

[boogerlovejoy]

Now this putz decides to talk??? lol. We didn't hear boo from this guy for 9 yrs!!!! And he has the balls to say he was "stuck" in a contract?! No, no no no no!!! YOU Calvin Johnson signed your second contract with Detroit. Nobody forced you to reup with Detroit, you fucking phony. You should have forced the hand of the organization to trade you or DON'T re-sign. Pretty simple really. Now we gotta hear how he was done wrong by the Lions and their losing ways. Bah, who cares anyways though, right?! You played WR for the Lions. Nobody held you accountable for shit. Blame goes on the QB in this fucking sport anyways!!! lol. Go fuck yourself, CJ. I just lost a ton of respect for this man.

And for the record. I'm not mad at CJ because he's dissing the Lions. I get it. These guys want to win a ring. Completely understood. But to bash on this organization 2 yrs after you're retired is weak and petty. Johnson should have done something about it after his rookie deal was up. Either force the Lions to trade you or publicly put the pressure on the Lions to go out and acquire players. But nooooooooo, he chose to take money and shut his fkn mouth. Then blame it on the Lions why he retired. What a coward!!!

Totally agree Tony. This seems petty and weak. I don't get what he's trying to accomplish with these comments and it's making him look bad.

 

[LKP]

He was stuck in 120 million dollar contract on a team that made the playoffs two of last 3 years. Boo hoo

Maybe if he didn't take 16 per they could have signed a few more upgrades in free agency.

Plus he had no clue of Quinn's capabilties

He is a gap toothed fool

 

[turok]

Soo...Johnson finally decided to make cheap whine out of his sour grapes. Don't come back here to the D for any special sports events or games, Calvin, you can stick your crooked middle finger that you very belatedly and indirectly gave us loong-suffering Lions fans up your ass.

Discouraging words can and will do damage to an NFL franchise that is trying to turn its SB era futility around, maybe even for the last time, since rumors of its sale and moving elsewhere have occasionally surfaced, and who knows what will happen after the 91 year old Martha Ford passes.


I was very impressed with his '11 season, but otherwise felt that he was a bit overrated/hyped. He sure wasn't underpaid, and helped to cripple the Lions' ability to sign other talent.

 

[kalinecountry]

https://www.prideofdetroit.com/2017...hnson-comments-italy-detroit-lions-retirement
Are you okay with Calvin Johnson speaking out against Lions?
Should Calvin be free to say what he wants or should he just shut the fuck up?
PrideOfDetroit

 

[tomdalton22]

Soo...Johnson finally decided to make cheap whine out of his sour grapes. Don't come back here to the D for any special sports events or games, Calvin, you can stick your crooked middle finger that you very belatedly and indirectly gave us loong-suffering Lions fans up your ass.

Discouraging words can and will do damage to an NFL franchise that is trying to turn its SB era futility around, maybe even for the last time, since rumors of its sale and moving elsewhere have occasionally surfaced, and who knows what will happen after the 91 year old Martha Ford passes.


I was very impressed with his '11 season, but otherwise felt that he was a bit overrated/hyped. He sure wasn't underpaid, and helped to cripple the Lions' ability to sign other talent.

It's hard to damage the reputation of the Lions...the franchise is already a laughing stock in the NFL.

 

[LKP]

It's hard to damage the reputation of the Lions...the franchise is already a laughing stock in the NFL.

Playoff teams aren't laughing stocks

 

[tomdalton22]

Playoff teams aren't laughing stocks

The Lions are. Making the playoffs and losing doesn't erase 6 decades of ineptitude.

 

[brewer229]

Nothing he said is untrue.

You could tell he was done midway through the 2015 season. Probably after the summer and starting to feel better he wanted to come back and play, but with a different team. Didn't want to go through the transition of new GM/rebuilding again. Team said no.

Can't really blame the guy for asking. Teams cut players all the time when they no longer fit what they want. This is a player asking to be released because the team no longer fits what he wants.

Funny how fans bitch and moan about a player needing to live up to the contract they sign, but have no issue of a team cutting a player and the team choosing not to honor the contract.

 

[turok]

It's hard to damage the reputation of the Lions...the franchise is already a laughing stock in the NFL.

Vikings: 0-4 SBs...40+ years ago.
Bills: 0-4 consecutive SBs...90s.
Bears: 1-1 SBs last championship '85.
Browns: 0-0 SBs...albeit AWOL late 90s.
Cardinals: 0-1 SBs...currently hold the longest championship drought in professional sports @ 68 years.

 

[tomdalton22]

Vikings: 0-4 SBs...40+ years ago.
Bills: 0-4 consecutive SBs...90s.
Bears: 1-1 SBs last championship '85.
Browns: 0-0 SBs...albeit AWOL late 90s.
Cardinals: 0-1 SBs...currently hold the longest championship drought in professional sports @ 68 years.

All of them are better than ONE playoff win in the past 6 decades!

 

[inkfreq]

There is a lot here that seems "political" to me.

Calvin didn't really say why he retired in an interview a few months back, but indicated he wasn't exactly happy with the way he was treated on his way out.

Media says Calvin had to return a lot of money, possibly up to 3 million bucks.

Caldwell says he doesn't like hearing an alumn of the team is unhappy.

Wood says the team is going to work with Calvin to make it right.

Calvin gets more vocal all the time about his unhappiness with the team.

End result... sooner or later the Lions are going to end up cutting Calvin a check to make him happy and have that relationship with one of the team's all-time best players again.

Seems there's money behind a lot of this to me.

And if not, so what? He's retired. He's not happy. He can say whats on his mind, but it doesn't change where he played, how he played, how he left, why he left, or what's happening now on a team he's no longer a part of.

 

[turok]

All of them are better than ONE playoff win in the past 6 decades!

The lone constant was WCF jr...and he is now deceased.

What you consider "laughing stocks" I consider other factors, like remaining in one city or state, and that SB wins and orNFL/AFL championships are the only true measuring sticks of franchise success. If the Lions win just one SB during the next several years, then they could tie or pass a half dozen NFL franchises.

 

[tomdalton22]

The lone constant was WCF jr...and he is now deceased.

What you consider "laughing stocks" I consider other factors, like remaining in one city or state, and that SB wins and orNFL/AFL championships are the only true measuring sticks of franchise success. If the Lions win just one SB during the next several years, then they could tie or pass a half dozen NFL franchises.

While I agree that SB victories are the ultimate measuring stick, having almost zero success in the playoffs in 6 decades is why they are a laughing stock.

 

[turok]

There is a lot here that seems "political" to me.

Calvin didn't really say why he retired in an interview a few months back, but indicated he wasn't exactly happy with the way he was treated on his way out.

Media says Calvin had to return a lot of money, possibly up to 3 million bucks.

Caldwell says he doesn't like hearing an alumn of the team is unhappy.

Wood says the team is going to work with Calvin to make it right.

Calvin gets more vocal all the time about his unhappiness with the team.

End result... sooner or later the Lions are going to end up cutting Calvin a check to make him happy and have that relationship with one of the team's all-time best players again.

Seems there's money behind a lot of this to me.

And if not, so what? He's retired. He's not happy. He can say whats on his mind, but it doesn't change where he played, how he played, how he left, why he left, or what's happening now on a team he's no longer a part of.

I read a comment that Johnson repaid $320K of $$3.2M bonus in another Lions thread for the Detroit News, but couldn't ask where he got that info from, b/c I don't have a FB account (and never will)

 

[Tonyballs2]

Nothing he said is untrue.

You could tell he was done midway through the 2015 season. Probably after the summer and starting to feel better he wanted to come back and play, but with a different team. Didn't want to go through the transition of new GM/rebuilding again. Team said no.

Can't really blame the guy for asking. Teams cut players all the time when they no longer fit what they want. This is a player asking to be released because the team no longer fits what he wants.

Funny how fans bitch and moan about a player needing to live up to the contract they sign, but have no issue of a team cutting a player and the team choosing not to honor the contract.

He should have been honest from the start. His reason for retiring..."my body is beat up". Two yrs later? It changes to, "we're not contenders". Oh, "and my body is still beat up though". He's a fucking coward! What's next? Calvin didn't get along with Stafford or Caldwell??? Dude is weak.

 

[LKP]

Nothing he said is untrue.

You could tell he was done midway through the 2015 season. Probably after the summer and starting to feel better he wanted to come back and play, but with a different team. Didn't want to go through the transition of new GM/rebuilding again. Team said no.

Can't really blame the guy for asking. Teams cut players all the time when they no longer fit what they want. This is a player asking to be released because the team no longer fits what he wants.

Funny how fans bitch and moan about a player needing to live up to the contract they sign, but have no issue of a team cutting a player and the team choosing not to honor the contract.

Teams cut players because they suck and don't live up to performing to their estimated value. The Lions did not suck going into 2015, during 2015 or during 2016. Loaded team with playoff talent. Calvin was overpaid and should be thanking the Lions for the opportunity.