For a relationship to be mended, somebody has to make the first move and it looks like former Detroit Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson has done exactly that.
Johnson, who has not been on good terms with the Lions since retiring (this is well-documented so I will not get into the details), met with Lions receivers via a Zoom call during the offseason after he was asked by wide receivers coach, Robert Prince.
From Detroit Free Press (Pay Site):
“I do have a relationship with R.P.,” Johnson said. “I do have a relationship with the receivers coach. Obviously, he was my coach when I finished up there, so yeah, we have a relationship. We’ll reach out and see how each other’s doing every now and then. Spoke to the receivers one time. It was good to speak to those guys.”
Though Johnson did take the time to speak to the Lions receivers, he said there is still no relationship with the organization as a whole.
“There’s no back and forth there,” he said. “That’s fine with me. I’m handling my business, I’m sure they’re handling theirs.”
Johnson said the Lions receivers are great guys and that he has love for them.
“Love watching Kenny Golladay,” Johnson said. “It’s nice to have Danny (Amendola) come over and Marvin (Jones). Love to see those guys out there. My heart goes out to Marvin for their loss. That’s terrible. But those are great guys. They’re great guys and I like seeing good guys do well, so I’ve got love for those players for sure.”
During his Zoom meeting with the Lions receivers, Johnson said he stressed working on the finer points of their craft.
“Literally just take one thing at a time and work on each thing on a daily basis and stack good days up on top of each other,” he said. “Like, ‘Hey, today I’m going to work on seeing the corner of the ball to my hands, tomorrow I’m going to work on the top of routes or the next day I’m going to work on fitting my hands in blocking or whatever
“Understand we’re not going to be perfect, but really trying to hone in on those skills and like I say, ‘That’s one good day, I’ll put it here. OK, that’s another good day. OK, I’ll stack it on top of that.’ And essentially when you stack those good days up of practice, that stuff just translates to the field but it really takes you homing in and putting a game-like effort, like the lights are on in practice so that it can transfer. And you play instinctually instead of thinking about stuff. So I think that’s what I really just try to hit home with any young group of guys that I talk to.”
Whether or not Calvin Johnson and the Detroit Lions organization will ever be on good terms again, only time will tell, but it seems like the ball is in the Lions’ court now and I believe they should make a move to make things right.
–Quotes via Dave Birkett, Detroit Free Press (Pay)– LINK
