Nothing has been decided yet, but it looks like Calvin Johnson, the Detroit Lions and Hall of Fame wide receiver, may be heading for reconciliation after Johnson’s years away from the franchise.
Johnson, who was officially selected to be part of the 2021 Professional Class Football Hall of Fame on Saturday, said he spoke to Lions owner Sheila Ford Hamp recently – the first real acknowledgment that the fences are being repaired.
“You know, I really hope so,” Johnson said on Sunday in a Hall of Fame conference call. “I think, I know that Sheila Hamp and I, had some great conversations recently and it was nice to meet her and really have these conversations face to face.
“So, I think we’re going in the right direction.”
The two sides are in a dispute over Johnson having to return just over $ 1 million, the signing bonus he received at the start of his last contract, to Lions after his retirement after the 2015 season.
Last month, Hamp spoke for the first time about the franchise’s fractured relationship with Johnson, and although she declined to elaborate, she expressed interest in repairing the relationship.
“I hope we can fix things with Calvin Johnson,” said Hamp in January. “He was obviously an incredible player for us and we will continue to look for him and hope that we can fix things, because I think it is important that he goes back to the Lions family.
“We would love it if he could or he wants to. So … and we are 100 percent behind him in his polls in the Hall of Fame and we hope he does this time. He was a great player and an amazing person and we would love to have him back with us, working with us and helping us with everything. “
Johnson, who still lives in the suburbs of Detroit, has not done anything publicly with the franchise since he retired. After initially thinking of returning to Georgia, where he grew up, he chose to stay in Michigan with his family and work with Primitiv, the cannabis business he and former Lions striker Rob Sims started.
Johnson did not give a retirement press conference and did not speak to the media from the day he retired until he held his annual camp in June. Since then, Johnson has expressed frustration with how this part of his retirement has been handled several times in the past five years, including ESPN in December 2016: “I just wanted it to end a little differently.”
In the immediate aftermath, ex-Lions coach Jim Caldwell – the last NFL coach Johnson played – said he hoped Lions and Johnson would end things up.
“Playing in the National Football League for a team, it’s like a family,” said Caldwell in 2017. “Families sometimes have disagreements. They see things a little differently. I have adult children. Sometimes we see things in a little different way. We argue with them, we talk to them. There is dialogue, but it doesn’t mean I don’t love them.
“I think the same thing will happen in this situation. Maybe there is a disagreement, a slightly different point of view, but the most important thing, I think, is that maybe all of this will bring a little more dialogue.”
The Lions changed ownership from Martha Ford to Hamp and underwent two trainers (Caldwell and Matt Patricia) and a change from general manager from Bob Quinn to Brad Holmes at the time Johnson was away from the franchise.
For the first time since then, it seems that Johnson and the club are heading towards a meeting. Johnson is the all-time leader in receptions (731), yards received (11,619) and touchdowns (83).
Fans are clamoring for Lions to fix things with their starter receiver – and Johnson talked about fans and the city he called home for more than a decade during his press conference in the Hall of Fame.
“For you, that’s all. You were everything for us,” said Johnson. “You filled that stadium. You brought the energy every Sunday, even though, in my management there, we were between 0-16 [in 2008], but you still believed in us, you all believed in the city and you all believe that we will have a Super Bowl winner there at some point.
“I hope it will be sooner or later and I have enjoyed living my entire adult life in Michigan. I am still there and I love you and I thank you for all the support and love that you have shown from then until now. And Detroit, the city, is number one in my heart, for sure. “