evenyoubrutus

March 14th, 2012 at 10:54 AM ^

I hope that cap space was worth it. 

And by that I mean can they keep Suh and Stafford when their contracts come up for renewal?  Thanks Millen for all those top 10 draft picks

M-Wolverine

March 14th, 2012 at 11:35 AM ^

If Barry is one, I don't think Calvin really has a shot at being #2.  I'm not sure any receiver does, unless his name was Rice, and Rice did ok in the Super Bowl (and I'm not sure guys like Moss wouldn't rank ahead at this point either).  I'm guessing we could come up with a half dozen more ahead of Johnson too, just by looking at old Vikings, Bills and other teams that never won.  

Now, if you wanted to say "best two to never get to a Super Bowl..." that might be another story...but really premature.

M-Wolverine

March 14th, 2012 at 12:08 PM ^

Receivers don't touch the ball enough. Running backs matter more back in Barry's day too.  Now, it might be closer to a toss up. Calvin would have to probably rank as good as Rice or at least an unquestioned #2 at receiver to even be in the conversion (and that's a lot of extrapolating), and even then it's hardly a sure thing when you're talking a top 10 (at least) of all time QB. And as others have pointed out in the thread, it's not even undisputed that Calvin is even the best receiver in the game today. No more than guys like Moss or Terrell Owens at receiver who never won one.

Here was NFL Network's list of 10 greatest players never to win a Super Bowl-

10. Fran Tarkenton

9. Jim Kelly

8. Eric Dickerson

7. Bruce Matthews

6. Dick Butkus

5. Bruce Smith

4. Deacon Jones

3. Merlin Olsen

2. Dan Marino

1. Barry Sanders

http://espn.go.com/blog/afceast/post/_/id/10257/best-player-never-to-wi…

 

You've got him passing up all those guys.  (notice there's no receivers on there).  It could happen, as anything could, but good luck with his career being thought of as better than ALL those guys (but one) when he's done.

MaizeAndBlueWahoo

March 14th, 2012 at 1:14 PM ^

Seven years like that one - a best-case scenario, to be sure, but still - and I could definitely see it happening.  For one thing, seven years approaches the length of the entire careers of some of those guys.  (Butkus only played eight.)  For another, I'd venture to say Megatron's 2011 was a better season than TO ever had, and Megatron has something that'll give his career more staying power than Moss or TO: he's not a Class A prick.  People will actually want to have him around.

(I'm aware that NFL contracts are mostly just big numbers without a lot of substance behind them and so on, but even so, Johnson will only be 33 at the end of it.)

jdon

March 14th, 2012 at 1:38 PM ^

Go watch Garrison Hearst's overtime touchdown (some say the best run in NFL history) and watch T.O. lead the way blocking all the way to the end zone.

Calvin isn't in T.O.'s league yet. 

Lets see what Calvin does over the next 6 years, add it to last year, and then see how he compares to T.O. 

 

jdon

 

bacon1431

March 14th, 2012 at 8:39 PM ^

He's not talking about a stretch of years. He's talking about one season. And I agree with him. Megatron's season is better than any of TO's single season. CJ definitely has a chance to have a better career. I think CJ would have even better stats if the best QB he had throwing to him before this seaosn wasn't Jon Kitna. TO's worst QB was who? Jeff Garcia? He was done by the time he was in Buffalo so it hardly matters who was throwing to him then.

tjl7386

March 14th, 2012 at 10:56 AM ^

Adam Schefter @AdamSchefter

Filed to ESPN: Lions reached agreement with WR Calvin Johnson on a seven-year, $132 million extension that includes $60 million guaranteed. 

Rico616

March 14th, 2012 at 11:15 AM ^

Detroit had to sign Megatron at any cost. He's easily if not the best WR in football for sure top 3. Him and Stafford compliment each other well.

I think we can all agree that OL and defense is what needs to be addressed via FA or the draft most. I have all faith in Mayhew to do the right thing within his ability to.

Go Lions!

bacon1431

March 14th, 2012 at 11:17 AM ^

Great job by the Lions front office to get this done. Going into this season, I was worried that CJ would bolt if we didn't make the playoffs in the next two years. Now we don't have to worry about that and it seems he loves playing with Stafford. Looking forward to him continuing his hopefully HOF career with the Lions

JimLahey

March 14th, 2012 at 11:37 AM ^

Calvin Johnson is one of the best football players on earth and I'm excited he'll be playing for my team for a long time. Furthermore, he is a standup individual. Nobody has to worry about him taking the money and dogging it, getting arrested, or making stupid comments to the media, or anything like that. He is the closest thing to a perfect superstar you will ever find.

Remember that mural in downtown Detroit with Barry Sanders? I think it should now be Calvin Johnson. 

goblueinMO

March 14th, 2012 at 11:50 AM ^

I am thrilled that the beast is locked down for the next decade.  However, having close to $40 million per year wrapped up in three guys (Suh, Stafford, and Johnson) seems a little fiscally dangerous, no???  

Just like the Lions to get good and leave the "high draft pick world" BEFORE they implement the rookie salary cap!!!  I LOVE MY LIONS!!!

NateVolk

March 14th, 2012 at 12:24 PM ^

He'll probably never play out that contract. It's about cap math this and that.  These extensions are total PR moves and are one sided towards the teams that can cut a guy any time they want and owe him nothing.   In exchange Calvin probably got a bunch more money up front.

93Grad

March 14th, 2012 at 12:43 PM ^

will be going up signifcantly in 2013 or 2014 with the new tv deals.  The Lions should be ok cap wise in the future. 

This year will be tight but they will have room to resign Backus and possibly Wright and/or Tulloch. 

Personally I'd really like to see them upgrade the seconday even if it costs us Tulloch.

djean02

March 14th, 2012 at 1:33 PM ^

$19 million per year for a top WR sounds like an awful lot of $$$.

 

This is top QB money.

 

Sounds like the Lions are overpaying.  This sounds like a bad deal to me.

JohnnyBlue

March 14th, 2012 at 2:07 PM ^

way better contract than I expected.  CJ gave detroit a hometown discount forsure, but it is still a very good contract.  but when 2014 roles around it won't be such an insane number like it sounds like today. I wouldn't be surprised 5 years from now if Luck pans out we hear things like 7 year 200M for a QB

djean02

March 14th, 2012 at 3:14 PM ^

this sure does not sound like any discount to me.  I don't know where JohnnyBlue shops, but paying CJ the highest WR salary is not a discount.  Sounds like CJ got the best possible deal and then some.  I'm not disagreeing that CJ is a great WR, but that is a ton of money.

Michigan4Life

March 14th, 2012 at 4:11 PM ^

and teams could've paid CJ more than 16.5 million a year.  Probably in the neighborhood of 22 million a year if he hits FA open market.  The fact the Lions got him that cheap(relatively speaking) is a hometown discount.

Plus it frees up $9 million in cap space.