Detroit Lions‘ legend Calvin Johnson went into the Hall of Fame in 2021 and started to rebuild a relationship with the Lions after the bridge was a bit burned for a while. He’s been a bug part of the franchise in the last two years and on Monday the Lions will be inducting him into Pride of the Lions during halftime of the Lions Monday Night game against the Seahawks in Week 4.
Johnson was a monster for the Lions from 2007 to 2015. He set the single season receiving yard record in 2012 and lead the league in yards in 2011 as well. In total, Johnson racked up 731 receptions for 11,619 yards and 83 touchdowns for Detroit.
Johnson was one of those players that everyone in the world wanted to stop and watch. It didn’t matter what team you were a fan of, you were a fan of Calvin Johnson. He was one of the very best receivers to ever play the game. In the top three for sure.
He’s a football legend just like former Lions’ running back Barry Sanders, that’s why the Lions should be looking to erect a statue of Johnson right next to Barry Sanders’ statue in front of Ford Field.
A Johnson statue would be incredible and could help start a new trend of the Lions displaying their legends to the world.
The perfect image of Johnson to use would be his insane catch against the Bengals from the 2013 season. It would be quite the undertaking becasue they’d have to include three other players in the statue, but it would be worth it.
That’s not all they should do. It’s time to retire number 81. Nobody has worn the number since Calvin Johnson retired in 2015. It’s time to make sure that never happens. It’s sort of quietly retired at this point, but it needs to be loudly done.