Not that its a surprise to any Lions fan but ESPN named CJ the best in the last decade.
I know I’ll get crap for this but I’m going to say yes and no. he dropped a lot of easy passes, horrible route runner, had some ball security issues and would get tackled REALLY easy.
I think someone like steve smith is more ‘deserving’ because of his physical shortcomings compared to calvin. Calvin would absolutely disappear in games. Big games.
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Yeah, seems like a stretch to me as well. First of all, the dude didn’t even play in half the decade, because he’s a quitter. You’re also right. He was similar to Suh, where he would make an outstanding play or two and then follow it up with a costly drop or turnover.
Off the top of my head, I would think AJ Green, Julio, and A Brown would be more deserving. Also guys like Fitz and Edelmon who play above their age and size and were consistent as heck.
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No crap from me and I agree with you!
To me Calvin was basically like Barry, when he was in his prime for 5 years or so, you knew he was the best receiver in the game.
Calvin passed the eye test to me. A lot of these other guys are definitely some damn fine players. I wouldn’t have had a problem with most of the other guys that people named, I think if Brown wasn’t a shitshow the last year or two, he might have been the one on top of this list.
I feel like Fitz is the only one you can make the argument for. The year he won that SB, he was taking over playoff games from the WR position. Looked like a damn video game out there. For sure the best playoff run I’ve seen by a WR. Amazing.
I like to root for the guys who outperform their physical capabilities too. Love that (maybe because I never had physical talent - LOL). I still think CJ is the one. We were literally throwing comeback/jumpball routes to him 30-50 yards down field, one year. He had to out jump 1 or 2 guys to get many of them. Honestly, it was probably hard on his body because of the way the NFL allowed defenders to go after him, but it was amazing how often he made those plays happen.
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I hate to be a stickler, but Fitz never won a SB, they lost in the SB to the Steelers. But your point is taken.
don’t take me as hacking on you, but your example of outjumping people is purely his height and ups. There wasn’t a ton of ‘skill’ there. someone like golden tate is much more ‘skilled’ than calvin. Hell I think golladay might…MIGHT get better than calvin because that kid don’t drop much.
IMO for the crap that it’s worth, to be a ‘best of’ you have to have it all. Barry is a best of because aside of stopping on a dime, he watched the field constantly to find the holes, knew when to accel/decelerate, etc. and never dropped the ball.
don’t get me wrong, calvin was a beast, but he had such a physical advantage he should’ve had 10 catches a game, every game and a lot of his stuff was uncontested because of his height, and he dropped his fair share.
just my ramblings.
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I could buy all of that. Still, CJ is tall ,has long arms, and can jump. Tate could not have made those plays. And, I’m w/you on Tate- LOVE dudes like that. He has no business being that tough of a dude, especially his size catching all of those balls in traffic…ridiculous to watch. Loved that dude, and wish he wouldn’t have left, though i know he had to.
I love that Barry was voted best player, not just RB. So crazy how that dude impacted a game.
CJ did drop too many. It’s hard to say which metrics they used, but CJ was just a freak. Like a Bo Jackson of WRs. Nobody that big and strong should be that fast, in theory. LOL.
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oh sure bring up bo jackson. had that dude not gotten injured I think he’s the #1 back all time. he had it all. shifty, fast, and could truck you.
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CJ was the best WR of his generation / decade.
some people don’t like the fact he wanted some salary bonus after he quit and use it as an excuse to came up with some way to disparage the guy. it’s as bad as the people that want to keep and make excuses for jokers like MP and BQ. i’m pretty sure few nfl players will question this ranking and or how good cj was
CJ was an athletic freak that opened the doors for other receivers of his mold. he was humble on and off the field like barry sanders (another great who some lion fans disparage though he was the only thing that brought joy to this organization for a decade). he literally carried the lion organization on his shoulders at times and helped them be competitive and even get into the playoffs when without him they would have done nothing. yeah he dropped a few balls but peyton manning took how long before he ever got to a SB.
you can focus on the few balls he dropped OR you can focus on all the things he accomplished and did for this organization.
if you ain’t buying any of all the above. on top of all that:
all the things he accomplished were when opposing defenses were gunning to literally injure him and take him out of games week in and week out. he was often the only focus of other teams when the lions had jack shit for a running game and god knows who else for receivers and OC. i never saw anybody in the nfl ever take more abuse week in and week out over his entire career then CJ, often with multiple kill shots from multiple defenders on the same play. all he did was get up and come back for more of it without a word spoken. he had 2 and 3 (hell sometimes 4) defenders covering him for most of his career!!! yet knowing the ball was going to come to him, all CJ did was still put up those numbers. and when it was all said and done, he left the game with mangled hands and ankles. a quitter?
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Definitely a different conversation. He was bringing some crazy shit to the table. That MNF game between the Lions and Raiders was friggin’ EPIC
If he played for most of the decade, he should have been considered, but the dude quit like in the middle of the decade. Part of being the best player at a position is being……….an actual player.
He played in 6 of 10 years of the decade and was the most dominant player for most of those years. Not sure why this is such a problem for you.
You should get crap for this. He was not a horrible route runner. He was no Golden Tate in that department but he knew how to get to his spots and would take a lot of punishment making tough catches in traffic. He would line up on the outside, the slot, anywhere and dominated. He was not some one trick pony that won 50/50 balls and did little else.
Never showed up in the big games. What? He was a force in the New Orleans playoff game and played well against Dallas. He had a lot of clutch TDs as well and some that should have been clutch TDs but I digress on that one.
I know there’s some bitterness towards Calvin because of the way it ended but don’t let it distort your view of how dominant he was in all.aspects.
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Lol. It’s not a problem. I just don’t think that playing slightly over half a decade for a terrible team, having zero meaningful wins, and barely any memorable moments is worthy of player of the decade. He also made a lot of bonehead plays. The fact that we won jack shit with him and Stafford tells me that he was in fact, NOT dominant.
He broke the all time yardage record and we won 4 games. Partly because we threw to him 204 times!! and he scored a whopping 5 TDS. I prefer players who don’t quit and make plays when the chips are down.
Yeah, I can’t believe it’s not Fitzgerald.
I loved Calvin, but Fitzgerald outperformed Calvin in nearly every category over the last TWO decades.
Fitz > Calvin
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This is true.
No other receiver saw defensive alignment that CJ saw.
It pissed me off that the league never made any effort to protect CJ from obvious game plans designed to exert maximum punishment on him to lessen his impact on the game. CJ should have been somewhat protected like they do other assets to the league, like Brady and Rogers.
I don’t mean to say not let him be tackled. But there were games where one or 2 defenders played him against the pass and another defender was assigned to hit him to punish him anytime the ball came his way. Didn’t matter if they were attacking his legs, head, wherever. The league let it happen. Then some of you guys bitch that his body broke down and he didn’t play for 10 more years. If he’s a been a cowboy his career would have been astronomical.
Even at his age, he’s still impacting games…and with more than just his play on the field. Did you see him calming Murray down, in that game against us? They don’t have Fitz, we win that game by 17 points.
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Nice point. Very true.
So true.
Agree w/what you say about if he had played for Cowboys or Packers. Imagine Barry in Emmit Smith’s situation. OMG - 250 yards/game