Dec 15

Dec 15 Calvin Johnson: The Legacy of Megatron

Calvin Johnson - The man named ‘Megatron’ is a modern great

Rarely do superstar athletes earn the right to retire on their own terms. Which is exactly what Calvin ‘Megatron’ Johnson did.

Age, injuries and decreasing ability are more common reasons sportsmen and women hang up the equipment and move into a new chapter of their life sans professional sports.

In the cutthroat world of the National Football League (NFL) it is even rarer than most professional sports leagues. Given the intensity and strain on the body, athletes suffer to play American football at the highest level.

Calvin Johnson was not a common athlete.

From the moment he entered the league, to the moment he announced his retirement Johnson was a special athlete. Perhaps an even greater role model, Johnson chose to walk away from tens of millions of dollars remaining on his contract. Safe with the knowledge that he could walk away from the game healthy and with nothing more to prove in his own mind.

Just how good was the wide receiver known simply as Megatron?

Calvin Johnson’s Early Career

Calvin Johnson has always been an athletic freak of nature.

Listed at 6ft 5 over 230lbs the towering receiver was coveted by NFL teams entering the 2007 draft. While Georgia Tech is far from a college powerhouse, Johnson’s rare combination of size and speed contributed to him winning the Biletnikoff Award as the best college wide receiver in his final year.

He broke numerous records at Georgia Tech, including earning the most career receiving yards and touchdown receptions in school history. All of which contributed to the Detroit Lions selecting Johnson 2nd overall in the 2007 NFL Draft. One pick after Oakland Raiders selected quarterback JaMarcus Russell. (Who was out of the league four years later.)

Johnson was expected to contribute as a rookie, and he didn’t disappoint.

Despite suffering a lower back injury in Week 2 that would haunt Johnson for a few years, the impressive receiver racked up 756 receiving yards on a much improved Lions team from the year before.

Fellow teammate and wide receiver Roy Williams nicknamed Johnson "Megatron", due to his large hands being similar to that of the towering Decepticon. A nickname that caught on well with the fans and will forever be associated with Johnson’s time in the NFL.

Calvin Johnson the Record Breaker

Johnson went from strength to strength in Detroit. In nine seasons, he went over 1,000 receiving yards seven times. It took Johnson a mere 115 games to reach 10,000 receiving yards in the league. At the time he was the fastest in NFL history to reach this milestone.

However, among all the accomplishments, one season stands out from the rest. The greatest individual season a wide receiver has ever enjoyed.

In March of 2012, Johnson signed an eight-year extension to stay in Detroit worth $132-million. A deal that made Johnson the highest-paid receiver in NFL history. Johnson was also voted to be the cover athlete for the video game Madden NFL 13 the same offseason. Many predicted such off the field success and the “Madden Curse” would hamper Johnson’s on-field performance.

He answered by racking up the most receiving yards by an individual player for a single season in league history. Literally, no one has caught for more yards in a season than Johnson did in 2012. He was masterful. His connection with quarterback Mathew Stafford was extraordinary but Stafford really just had to put the ball in the general area code of Johnson and he seemed to come down with a reception.

in 2012, Johnson fell only 36 yards short of 2,000 receiving yards for the season, earning 1,964. He AVERAGED over 122 yards a game. To put that into perspective, no one else has achieved more than 1,900 yards in a season, only eight times (including Johnson’s 2012 season) has a receiver earned over 1,700 since the NFL merger in 1966. In an age where teams are passing the ball all over the field, Johnson set the standard for receivers.

Former Detroit Lions wide receiver, Calvin "Megatron" Johnson's full career highlights.

A Big Fish in a Small Pond - Johnson in Detroit

Despite the dominance Johnson brought to the Lions, Detroit failed to capitalise on the rare opportunity they had a generational talent in their building. A fan base starved of success, for as long as Detroit marvelled at the ability of Johnson they would also rue the mistakes of ownership, hapless mismanagement from General Managers, and witness the demise of several uninspiring Head Coaches in the motor city.

While Johnson earned his maiden 1,000-yard season in 2008, Detroit became the first 0-16 team in NFL history and the first winless team in 26 seasons. Rod Marinelli was sacked, in came defensive-minded Jim Schwartz. Schwartz was given time to turn the team’s fortunes around, and in the third year of his tenure with Johnson reaching the peak of his powers, Megatron found himself in the playoffs for the first time.

A Wild Card round loss to the heavily favoured New Orleans Saints was nothing to be ashamed of. There was new hope in Detroit.

Johnson’s record-breaking 2012 followed. At the same time, old Lions fortunes returned.

Finishing 4-12, Johnson’s historic year will forever be associated with a hopeless Detroit team. Another year out the playoffs in 2013 and Schwartz was shown the door after five seasons. Johnson now through seven seasons, had only played in one playoff game.

2014 under new Head Coach Jim Caldwell would be the closest Johnson would ever get to enjoy a playoff victory. The Lions went 11-5 in Caldwell’s first season as Johnson yet again earned over 1,000 receiving yards despite missing three games with an ankle injury.

A famous wildcard round battle with the Dallas Cowboys ensued. Johnson caught five passes for 85 yards. However, quarterback, Tony Romo led a fourth-quarter comeback, scoring ten unanswered points to dump Detroit and Johnson out of the playoffs in the first round yet again.

Johnson’s shock Early Retirement

The loss was a shock to Detroit and Johnson. After years of failure, they came so close to earning the first playoff win for the franchise since 1991 and ending Johnson’s wait for a postseason victory.

Megatron topped the 10,000 career receiving yards milestone in 2014 and added another 1,214 yards to his name in 2015. But the Lions regressed to mediocrity again, finishing 7-9, outside of the playoffs.

At age 30, nine years into a career that failed to bring Johnson the team success he’d hoped for, he had become disillusioned with football. He expressed his unhappiness with the Lions, who refused to let him out of his record-breaking extension over several years of negotiations.

It is unclear when and exactly what made Johnson feel no longer at home with the Lions. Perhaps the 2012 extension came at a time he felt Detroit was on the cusp of success, only for disappointment to follow. For sure though, he no longer wanted to play in Detroit.

Calvin Johnson retired from pro football in March 2016 after nine seasons. No player had more receiving yards, receiving touchdowns, and 100-yard games than Johnson throughout his time in the league from 2007 to 2016 - making him one of the greatest wide receivers of all-time!

Legacy of Megatron

Calvin Johnson impacted pro football in so many ways. A professional in every sense of the word, it is only a matter of time before we see Johnson voted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Caton, Ohio.

He did not achieve everything he set out to earn in the NFL, and he definitely left the league with Detroit fans and neutrals wanting more. However, no wide receiver has made such an impact on the league in such a short space of time than Johnson.

There will only ever be one Megatron.