OT: Calvin Johnson Officially Retires
Yes, the guy whose username proclaims John Navarre as his hero is somehow against stat-padding quarterbacks. Okey-dokey.
Navarre padded his stats?
When the hell did Navarre pad his stats?
He is the last Michigan QB to lead the team to an outright title.
Goodness.
Finding a good NFL QB is tough and Stafford certainly isn't the worst of them
The Lions have been awful for years. They've changed players, scouts, coaches, GMs, everything from top to bottom, and nothing has changed for the better.
The only constant has been the Fords, so that leads us to believe that the Fords could very well be, and likely are, the problem.
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with Statford at QB
They never will. But as you can see, plenty of people think he isn't part of the problem. These are the fools that still watch this crap team.
He has a broader life perspective than most athletes and people in general do. I think he got to do what he wanted for several years, but he's ready to move on. I just hate that he never got a chance to compete for a contender in nearly the decade he was in the league.
Someone needs to explain to me how Lions fans can be at all ok that a generational talent has retired because it frees up cap space?
As I no longer live in SE Michigan, I don't follow the Lions as I once did, but is this a circumstance where the prior GM was so incompetent that Calvin's deals were structured very poorly, making him increasingly expensive against the cap?
My understanding was the this was what happened with Suh and he became extremely expensive, in large part due to management incompetence.
But from what I understand, CJ retiring has nothing to do with his contract, so I'm not really sure what your point is. He decided to retire, and there's a small silver lining there.
Reading a couple of articles in the last few minutes, it seems that the salary cap hell the Lions have gotten them in isn't going away until Stafford is done.
Its remarkable to me that the organization is consistently so poorly run that they can screw up having talents such as Johnson and Suh. One would assume that finding a credible Excel jockey and a negotiations expert would be easier to find than elite WRs and DTs. I guess I'm wrong.
Salary cap hell? They have like 50 million to spend with Calvins rretirement which Im pretty sure is top 10 in the league. Add ten picks in the draft this year a new GM and revamped scouting staff (which Ive been screaming for for 20 years, there were still guys that Russ Thomas had hired working here) and this could finally be the time they turn it around. And before everyone scoffs at this statement because well you know its the Lions, every garbage organization thats won it all had to begin somewhere including the Dead Things of my youth.
because the Lions are actually in very good shape in salary cap terms. The Lions had $33 million of space WITH Calvin.Now add $11 million to that.
The Lions drafted Calvin, Stafford, and Suh all in the top 2 and then the collective bargaining deal chaged. At the time we were drafting those guys there was no cap on signing draft picks and they were able to sign these giant deals as rookies. There is now a rookie cap in place that does not let these rookie contracts get this high.
So the lions have these big contracts and in order to sign other players they would restructure these deals but it would create these $20+million years for Suh and Johnson towards the end of their deals. So in order to keep them we have to pay these exorbitant contracts or lose them like we did with Suh.
Basically we are still paying for Matt Millen.
I agree with this assessment. I've been saying this for years, but the Lions picked the absolute worst time to be historically sucky. They reaped the benefit of sucking by being able to draft the likes of Suh and Johnson, but the new collective bargaining agreement came after those high, expensive draft picks saddled them with inflexibliity.
Its not a question of being "OK" with it or not. He retired.
I haven't seen any reports that he is retiring because he is not happy with the team or his contract. All the reports I've seen say that he retired because his body was beginning to break down. He is making a decision about his future and his health. There is nothing to be mad about here. In my view, you just have to respect his decision and wish him well.
Michigan football lands a better head coach in 2014 than the Lions have since the 60s. I'm not sure if that's an endorsement to the strength of the block M or a look at how bad our local NFL franchise is.
I was born in 1971. Except for 2014, Michigan has had a better football coach than the Lions for my whole life.
As a Bears fan I am thrilled to see him go, but as a fan of the game, it is a loss. Yes, he has been hurt lately, but as far as raw talent goes, he was lethal. Hopefully the Lions will put that 24 million to good use.
another overrated detroit athelte retires. no tears here.
Dumbest comment I've read in a long, long time
you can't be stopped at just one. go ahead, make your day, neg to bolivia single-handedly.
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that 16th pick is going to be for sure a WR now...
not what the lions need to make them better... they need to fix the oline, they need a safety and a run stuffing DT... they can find a good WR in the 2nd and 3 rounds don't waste another 1st round pick on a skill position... i hope that quinn and his new england petigree sees what is actually needed and drafts correctly...
pls god no more 1st round receivers until they fix the line play...
team in the NFL has figured this out except for the lions...
Karma's a bitch!
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Sad day. Good luck to Calvin on life outside of football. Get healthy!
time to trade stafford is now, before the over 20 int season comes and his value diminishes
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Step 1: Trade Stafford
Step 2: Draft Rudock
Step 3: ????
Step 4: Profit
because that makes about as much sense.
Productive NFL Qbs are hard to come by--particularly in Detroit. Your idea is idiotic.
Is he gonna feel stupid when the Lions win the Super Bowl...in 2073.
Yeah, I just saw that - there was a thread maybe about a month or so back when it was announced that he was considering it, a thead that jumped the gun a bit, as I recall, but it turns out that they were in fact correct. I was hoping not, but it was a vain hope given the time and other evidence. Sad day indeed for the Lions, but all the best to Calvin Johnson on the next stage of his life.
#LionsFootball
But he was no where near worth the money he got. He's been adding injuries over the years and if Tate never signed with us and drawn some attention away from CJ, we'd have seen just how much he has digressed. Lions can't afford to blow the extra cap space.
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Happy retirement Megatron!!!
