Calvin Johnson elected to Pro Football Hall of Fame, joins rare group of first-ballot WRs

Dave Birkett

| Detroit Free Press

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Johnson, the leading receiver in Detroit Lions history, was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in voting that was announced Saturday at the NFL Honors show.

Johnson is the seventh receiver selected to the Hall of Fame on the first ballot, the third in the past 25 years, and the first modern-era Lions player elected since Barry Sanders.

He joins Randy Moss (Class of 2018), Jerry Rice (2010), Steve Largent (1995), Paul Warfield (1983), Lance Alworth (1978) and Raymond Berry (1973) as receivers to get in on their first try.

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Johnson’s candidacy generated the most debate at last month’s selection meeting, where talk primarily revolved around whether he should wait a season or more before being elected.

More statistically accomplished receivers like Terrell Owens and Marvin Harrison had to wait three years each before being enshrined in Canton, but Johnson’s unique ability, record-breaking accomplishments and the widespread respect he garnered from his peers ultimately paved the way for him to receive a gold jacket.

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“He’s a first-ballot guy because what he had to overcome,” former Lions coach Rod Marinelli told the Free Press last month. “When I put everything together that matters for me, the character he brings to the position, never complaining he never got the ball. Would block. And put up the numbers he did in tough situations, how do you not? How do you not? And to me, that’s what a Hall of Famer is. He produced under hard circumstances. Never complained. Maximized his talent. And was an A-plus teammate.”

Johnson, who played for just two winning teams in his nine years in Detroit, set the NFL single-season receiving record with 1,964 yards in 2012. That was his second straight year leading the NFL in receiving yards, and the second of three consecutive first-team All-Pro selections.

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He was a member of the NFL’s All-Decade team for the 2010s and has one of the top-seven single-game performances in both regular season (329 yards) and postseason (211 yards) history.

Johnson said last summer that being a first-ballot Hall-of-Famer “would be the utmost honor.”

“(I’ve) been associated with some of the greats in the game, but to be solidified in that realm (with guys like) Randy, Largent, Jerry — tremendous respect,” Johnson said. “Followed those guys coming up. I wanted to take certain things from all those guys’ game and piece them together into my game. Not just those guys, but other greats out here, too, but they’re definitely admired.”

The second overall pick in the 2007 draft out of Georgia Tech, Johnson led all players in receiving yards (11,619), touchdowns (83), 100-yard games (46) and receiving average (86.1 ypg) over the course of his career.

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He earned the nickname Megatron for his combination of size (6 feet 5, 239 pounds) and unique skill set, with former Lions offensive lineman Rob Sims once saying he was like Create-A-Player in the Madden football video game.

“He was just the best to do it, especially the deep ball,” former Chicago Bears cornerback Charles Tillman said. “You would just throw it down there. I don’t think it was the quarterback, I think it was just whoever could throw a ball, and you knew he was going to come down with it. That’s Calvin Johnson.”

Johnson missed just nine games in his nine-year career, but his body was ravaged by a slew of injuries by the time he retired.

He had to be talked out of retirement by his father after the 2014 season, when the Lions lost a heartbreaking wildcard playoff game to the Dallas Cowboys, then walked away from the game a year later after a 7-9 campaign.

Johnson and the Lions have been at odds since, after the Lions forced Johnson to repay a $1.6 million portion of his signing bonus when he retired.

Lions owner Sheila Ford Hamp declined to speak on “the money issue” last month, but said she hoped to repair the organization’s relationship with Johnson. With a re-opened line of communication, there is a chance the two sides will reconcile before Johnson is inducted into the Hall of Fame in a supersized ceremony in August.

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Both 2020’s centennial Hall of Fame class and the 2021 class will be enshrined in August, with a ceremony for the 2021 class scheduled Aug. 8.

“He was obviously an amazing player for us and we’re going to continue to reach out to him and hope that we can repair things because I think it’s important that he come back into the Lions family,” Hamp said. “We’d love if he could, if he will. And we are 100% behind him for his Hall of Fame ballot and hope he gets it this time. He was a great, great player and a terrific person and we’d love to have him back with us and working with us and helping us with everything.”

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Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.

This article was originally published by Freep.com. Read the original article here.