Calvin Johnson basically admitted that he would still be playing football if the Lions didn’t suck. He’s currently on a press tour in Italy for some weird Italian football league. He more-or-less said that the Lions weren’t going to win a Super Bowl and they wouldn’t let him out of his contract. So, he retired. This story is getting a lot of press, because it’s the first time that Calvin Johnson has said anything negative about the Lions.
It’s wild how much control NFL teams have over their players. The way NFL contracts are set up, a team can end a contract whenever they want to. But, players are trapped in the same contracts, unless the team agrees to let them out. For example: Calvin Johnson still has four years left on his deal with the Detroit Lions. Unless the Lions were to release him from that contract, he is unable to play football anywhere else, until that contract is fulfilled.
Apparently, Megatron asked to be released multiple time and the Lions refused.
Think about this: Calvin Johnson AND Barry Sanders left the NFL early, because Detroit locked them into contracts and couldn’t build a championship team around them.
Some Weird Italian Football Interview: “I didn’t see a chance for them to win a Super Bowl at the time,” Johnson said. “For the work I was putting in, it wasn’t worth my time, to keep on beating my head up against the wall, and not go anywhere.
“It’s the definition of insanity.”
“That’s everybody’s goal, when they come to the league, is to win a Super Bowl. That’s the ultimate goal. … I wanted to win it, and like I said, I just didn’t see that opportunity [with the Lions].”
“I mean, I thought about it,” Johnson said, when asked if he thought about changing teams. “Just like in basketball, you know, guys, they create these superteams. But it’s not quite like that in football where I had the freedom just to go. I was stuck in my contract with Detroit, and they told me, they would not release my contract, so I would have to come back to them.