The relationship between HOFer Calvin Johnson and the Lions has been very bad for a while now. This is all due to the team not paying him his $1.6 million signing bonus after he suddenly retired in 2015.
The Lions recently decided to throw some incentives at Johnson, such as a three-year agreement that would pay him $500,000 annually for appearance fees, along with a one-time payment of $100,000 to the Calvin Johnson Jr. Foundation. Johnson also would’ve had to put in 28 hours of appearances for the Lions. This includes seeing his No. 81 get inducted into the Pride of The Lions.
Graham Bensinger recently interviewed Johnson about this situation, and he doesn’t really see this proposal as a real effort by the Lions.
“I’m not saying they got to repay me the $1.6 [million] all up front, but they need to figure out a way to do it, and not have me work for it, because I already did the work for it,” Johnson explained.
“That’s a joke,” Johnson added “I put it like this. Imagine you had a friend — well, maybe not even a friend, just somebody. They gave you something and then they take it back. And then are y’all gonna still really hang out? Are y’all still cool? And imagine you did a whole bunch of work for it, too. It’s the principle. It’s the principle of it. You cannot have me back unless you put that money back in my pocket. . . . I’m not working for it.”
Flip the page to check out Calvin Johnson, still disapproving of how the Lions attempt to mend their relationship.
