Posted on 02/01/2016 8:11:04 AM PST by C19fan
What is it about the Detroit Lions and generational players retiring in the middle of their prime?
It appears that Calvin Johnson could join Barry Sanders as Lions greats who walked away from football in their very early 30s, according to this report from ESPN's Adam Schefter. The report says that Johnson told his family and close friends that the 2015 season would be his final one in the NFL, reiterating the message to Lions head coach Jim Caldwell the day after the regular season was over.
(Excerpt) Read more at sports.yahoo.com ...
The Detroit Lions: where hall of fame level players quit in frustration at age 30. Say hi to Barry Sanders for me, Megatron.
Good for CJ.
This is going to hurt the team. Megatron is amazing.
He doesn’t need the money. I saw an interview with him. He says he’s financially set and that his body just hurts. It hurts all the time during the season and it takes longer and longer for things to heal. Good for him. I think you’ll see this being the norm now for players who have the smarts to save their money. Much less CTE risk, much less degenerative issues as they age. For those who don’t need the money to survive, this will be a common occurence for the league.
As a Lions fan, I’ll miss him, but he’s making the right decision for himself and his family.
As a Lion’s fan i wish Calvin the very best in his future, the man is a class act! For the sake of honesty i should mention i’m happy he’s not going to another team in our division.
Johnson easily could have caught up with another team. He was just done with the game. Don’t blame him a bit.
Quite honestly, whenever I watch him play it just seems that he isn’t really “trying that hard.” I know, and understand that disconnect in my own mind, so I chalked it up to him being so good that he just makes it look easy for a chump like me.
However, then I would see another play where he didn’t “tuck the ball.” (Seattle) Then I would think it again.
This rumor isn’t that surprising to me. He has all of the talent in the world, but it just seems like he doesn’t work very far beyond that talent. Which is rather sad...
Just imagine his performance if he worked like a Jerry Rice or Walter Payton...
My advice I would give to any player going to the NFL is that no matter how good you are, get out before you reach 30, with the only exception being if you’re someone like Tom Brady. For most players the amount of money they make should be enough to live comfortably on for the rest of their lives, if they save it wisely.
The great ones make it look effortless.
Tiki Barber left the Giants for the same reason: Monday mornings were too much to handle.
Chronic losing can cause that frustration in any man.
Good for him for getting out while he still has all of his marbles and good, general health!
The Detroit Lions have killed more legends than Randy Orton.
LOL - wrestling reference, good one
This information has been out for a while, nothing official from CJ himself yet?
...would have been nice to see Sanders/CJ traded somewhere else(like New England)to have a shot at a ring...not to mention perhaps break every record in the book.
The Ford family's other Edsel...except they took a Mercedes of a team and turned them into a Pinto...forever SOL.
The likes of Fox Sports, NBC Sports, CBS Sports and ESPN are all waving money at him to be their NFL analyst right now.
That’s a great gig.
I read that John Gruden is the highest paid non-executive at ESPN, works 3 days a week, and lives in Florida.
Nice work if you can get it.
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