Okay, okay, let me explain:
I wanted to love Calvin Johnson. I really did. And for the first few years, I was a fan. But increasingly I noticed he just didn’t show up when it mattered most. He was taking a lot of plays off. He would take himself out of games. He was increasingly “dinged up” and missing more and more time. Everyone was like, “Poor Calvin. He gets so beat up.” But I watched every single one of his games. He wasn’t taking an inordinate number of crazy hits.
I concluded he was soft. He underperformed in a lot of games. He wouldn’t block much, he wouldn’t sell out, his effort was so so, and he’d get caught from behind despite his vaunted “4.35 speed”. He seemed disinterested.
Well, turns out he admitted he smoked weed after every single game he played in the NFL. Seriously Calvin? So he was using drugs his entire career. He wasn’t working to be his best on the field for his team. He set the NFL single season record for receiving yards, but the Lions were awful. His fault? No. But he didn’t win the Lions many games either. And the team was actually better after he quit at age 31.
Then there’s his constant whining in the media that the Lions didn’t treat him right. He couldn’t believe the Lions didn’t let him keep $1M of his signing bonus after he quit with 4 years left on his contract.
Final straw for me was the fact that despite career earnings of $113 million, it wasn’t enough. Calvin doubled down by incorporating a marijuana distributorship in Michigan. He and his business partners have targeted college campuses like Michigan State, Notre Dame for their lucrative student markets. Despite his otherworldly athletic gifts, these are the reasons why Megatron eventually became my least favorite Lion ever.
One of my favorite posts ever. He was polite and soft spoken, but still a diva. He’s petty to a fault in my opinion. Had he not played games showing up in Oakland it would have been tolerable, but to make it visible you’d like a trade, but still claim to be broken, but screw your team that made you wealthy, but admit to be casual enough to take depressants on game day… wtf.
Harrington- If he was as advertised NONE OF THE REST OF THIS GODFORSAKEN TRASH WOULD HAVE HAPPENED. Think about it.
Gosder Cherilus. 1st rd OT. Just plain sucked. Aaron Gibson also fits here.
Jarrad Davis/Barrett Green/Kalimba Edwards/Boss Bailey/Jordan Dizon/Sean Cody/IAF. Shit, let’s just day every 2nd rd pick besides Swift. I know Davis was a first.
Stop helping.
But #1 for me will always be Smokey McDumbass. Charles Rogers, the Glass Spartan.
They knew he was borderline retarded. They Knew he was about as mature as Stimpy. They knew he was a Gigantic Fucking Marijuana Smokestack.
He smoked so much dope at MSU, he probably qualified as a vegetable. They knew because They Hired His Head Coach As His Personal Babysitter.
And SHOCKER!
He failed. Big time. Failed as a human, a father, a son…all of it. Still failing.
I’m being nice about it BTW.
No Chuckle, we get Andre Johnson. That means no Fat Mike Williams. Butterfly effect works both ways. I would right now trade Calvin, Suh and Stafford for not going down the road that Smokey and Joey took us. You would too. Just blind luck would have us win more.
He wasn’t taking hits in his games? Excuse me? Stafford airballed throws to him where he would jump as high as he could, end up horizontal to the ground, and land on his back or side hard numerous times a game. I’m surprised he isn’t using a walker right now.
Calvin certainly wasn’t my least-favorite. But the play I cannot let go of, in that Seattle primetime game, when the Lions were poised for a massive road upset, Stafford gets the ball to Calvin to go in for the winning, last-minute, incredible score and … he fumbles it. He almost throws it forward. And it wasn’t knocked out.
It was such a Lions play. Such a loser’s play. Such a, “I don’t ever want to be successful” play.
Yes, the Seattle defender illegally batted the ball out of bounds, and it should have been Lions ball on the 1, and the refs blew it, and the Lions always get screwed by the refs. Not my point.
Yeah, CJ is no doubt a loser…So freaking clumsy when it matters most…No killer instinct (same as Stafford)…Can you imagine what Jerry Rice would have done with CJ 's body?
It was punched out by Kam Chanceller, Peanut Tillman style. But that being said I fully agree that Calvin had issues in those type of situations. If you recall when we finally won at Lambeau for the first time in 25 years…Calvin blew that game when he fumbled the onsides kick. Thank god the kicker missed the game winning field goal. He also blew the game against the Bucs when Stafford dropped a dime on him at the goalline, and he basically handed the ball to the Bucs defender for an interception.
