Lions May Try To Coax Calvin Johnson Back With Extension

Even in the midst of Super Bowl week, the most surprising story in the NFL was the shock decision by Detroit Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson, who all but officially announced his retirement after nine years at the peak of his game.

Only time will tell whether the man they call “Megatron” will don the pads and cleats again in 2016, but sources close to Lions claim he confided in head coach Jim Caldwell and quarterback Matthew Stafford, telling both that 2015 would be his final year.

Detroit isn’t taking this move without a fight. According to NFL insider Ian Rapoport, the “goal for Lions coaches and staff is to find a way to bring Calvin Johnson back,” adding “it wouldn’t be at his current salary, but with a [Larry Fitzgerald]-like extension.”

So, let’s break down the numbers. In 2011, Fitzgerald signed an eight-year, $120 million deal. Contracts that grandiose and exhaustive rarely reach their conclusion in the unpredictable NFL. Before the 2015 season, Fitz agreed to a two-year extension worth a guaranteed $22 million.

The reworked deal was a by-product of Fitzgerald’s climbing age and decreasing production. He ended 2015 as the most reliable weapon – as both a catcher and blocker – on a team that went deep into the playoffs before imploding in the season’s penultimate game.

Johnson’s contract – at one time the largest in NFL history – is also looking too big for the britches of the player who signed the deal. Unwilling to bring CJ back for the $16 million he would be set to earn in 2016, Detroit is instead looking for at least a two-year deal averaging out to about $11 million/season. It is a pay cut, but with Johnson set to return up to $3 million to the franchise if he retires, maybe it will prove a fair middle ground.

This is all, of course, predicated on the assumption that money is a factor for football’s former top receiver. But by all accounts, money is no object here. Johnson cited myriad injuries to almost every body part as his reason for leaving the game at 30, in eerily similar fashion to another Lions legend, Barry Sanders.

Megatron doesn’t seem like a man who would posture and pose with this decision as a means of getting a new contract, or even being traded to a competitive team that would help him finally win a ring. Credit the front office for trying, but much like its performance on the field, Detroit might walk away the loser in this one.