What If Calvin Johnson Didn't Retire?

  Since 2015, most of the NFL World has been debating whether Antonio Brown, Julio Jones, or Odell Beckham Jr. is the best receiver in the game. Mind you, 2015 was the last season that Calvin Johnson played. According to me, Calvin Johnson was the best receiver until his last season! That guy was big and fast. Calvin Johnson at 6'5, 237 pounds, was able to do everything one could ask a receiver to do. I started watching football in 2010. Calvin was the receiver who caught my eye. Time after time, I saw him double covered and then him beating the coverage to catch the ball for a big gain. There were times when he was triple-covered and he still made a play. I doubt there was a corner, who wasn't scared of him. How do you stop someone so big, strong, and fast? You can't! You just can't stop this beast! However, Calvin chose to retire at the age of 30, after playing nine seasons. He retired after six straight seasons with over 1000 receiving yards. It didn't seem like he was slowing down. So why did he retire?

  Calvin Johnson, who played all of his nine years in the NFL for the Detriot Lions, walked away from the game of football just like another former Lions' superstar did. Barry Sanders, who is considered to be one of the greatest running backs of all time, left the game of football at the age of 30 and after ten seasons in the NFL. It was a shocker for the Lions' fans to see Barry leave the game of football when he never had a season in which he ran for less than 1100 yards. Seventeen years later, Calvin Johnson did the same exact thing to the Lions' fans. They both retired early and in their prime of football careers because they knew they couldn't a championship with the Detriot Lions. Yes, they both could have gone somewhere else and competed for a title, but they loved the city of Detriot and the fans of the team so much that they just couldn't imagine themselves wearing a different uniform.

  After nine years in the NFL, Calvin Johnson had recorded 731 receptions for 11619 receiving yards and 83 touchdowns. He had a season in 2012 in which he caught 122 balls for 1964 receiving yards. Then a year later, he had a game in which he recorded 14 catches for 329 receiving yards. Calvin Johnson destroyed several coverages to make game-changing plays throughout his career. I always ask myself, 'what if Calvin Johnson didn't retire?' What could he have done? Would he have taken the Detriot Lions deep into the playoffs? Could he have won a ring with some other team? I honestly believe, he could have played six to seven more seasons before his body had given up on him. Let's see some of the teams he could have played if he hadn't retired.

What if Calvin Johnson decided to continue playing for the Lions?

 Mattew Stafford, the quarterback from whom Johnson caught passes for seven of his nine years, is right now one of the best quarterbacks in the game. He is one of the most clutch quarterbacks in the game of football right now. Stafford was clutch when Megatron was on the team, but he is even better now. If Johnson had decided to continue playing for the Lions, it would have affected Stafford's development as a quarterback. When Stafford and Johnson played together, Stafford in crucial situations forced a lot of passes in the direction of Johnson. Sometimes, Johnson was able to make plays with those passes, sometimes he wasn't able to. There were times when Stafford forced passes in the direction of Johnson, there were some other receivers on the field, who were open. Since Calvin retired, Stafford figured out how to share the football with all of his weapons on offense. He's been very effective with sharing the ball. Stafford and Johnson did have a great quarterback-receiver relationship, but if Johnson didn't leave the team, Stafford would be just an average quarterback today.

What if Calvin Johnson had chosen to play elsewhere?

  There is no way the Detriot Lions could have released Calvin Johnson! If they did release him, it wouldn't have made no sense financially. Also, as a free agent, Calvin could have signed with anyone in the NFC conference. He could have signed with the Green Bay Packers.

  Calvin in Green Bay? Many football fans would point out that Calvin loved playing for the Detriot Lions and he would never cheat on them by joining their arch rival, the Green Bay Packers. Well, people said that same thing about Kevin Durant in NBA. Durant loved the city of Oklahoma and had no issue playing for the Thunder with Russell Westbrook. Guess what he did? He joined the Golden State Warriors three months after losing to them. Johnson and Durant both are nice guys and they both enjoyed playing for the team that drafted them. However, that doesn't mean that Johnson and Durant wouldn't play for teams who were considered to be rivals of their former teams.

  So imagine what could have happened if Calvin Johnson had decided to take his talents to Green Bay, and play with Aaron Rodgers? Every defense that would play the Packers, would have a lot of trouble sleeping the night before. Aaron Rodgers is the most talented quarterback in the game of football, and when he is on the field with his offense, all eleven defenders need to keep an eye on what Rodgers is doing. He is one of the most accurate throwers in the game of football and because of that, he might be able to complete more passes to Johnson in double coverage, than Mattew Stafford ever did! An offense that is going to include Rodgers at quarterback and Johnson, Jordy Nelson, and Davonte Adams as the top three wide receivers, it will have no problem putting up thirty points in every single game.

  As exciting as it would have been for Calvin Johnson to join forces with Aaron Rodgers and play in Green Bay, he could have passed that opportunity. Then, where else could he have gone as a free agent? He could have gone to the desert to play with Larry Legend!

  In Johnson's last year in the NFL, Arizona Cardinals won the NFC West division with a 13-3 record and went all the way to the NFC Championship game. That year, they had a great roster and a great chance to win it all. Larry Fitzgerald was once again amazing in the regular season and in the playoffs. However, him and his team weren't strong enough to beat the Carolina Panthers. Calvin Johnson must have seen Larry cried at the post-game press conference. What if he had decided to join the Arizona Cardinals?

  Calvin Johnson went through the same hardships in Detriot that Larry Fitzgerald has been going through in Arizona for his entire career. If Johnson had decided to team up with Fitzgerald in Arizona, we could have witnessed something very special. The Cardinals in 2016, would have had better odds of winning the Super Bowl than they did in 2015! The Cardinals defense was already set with lots of playmakers, but with the addition of Johnson on offense, the entire team would have been loaded with playmakers. Cardinals' offense would have featured Carson Palmer at quarterback, young David Johnson at running back, and Larry Fitzgerald and Calvin Johnson at wide receiver. With such an offense, Palmer would have won the league MVP and would have played in his very first Super Bowl. Larry Fitzgerald could have retired after the conclusion of the 2016 season, with a Super Bowl ring he has been dreaming of since his childhood.

  What if the Lions had decided to put Johnson on the trade block?

  If the Lions had put Johnson on the trade block, their preference would have been to trade him outside of their conference. Besides the Pittsburgh Steelers, I could see every single AFC team offering the Lions picks and players for Calvin Johnson. One team completing a trade with the Lions for Johnson could have been the New England Patriots. Why the Patriots? Because the Patriots have a great relationship with the current Lions' general manager, Bob Quinn, who spent about fifteen years in the Patriots' organization. Let's say these trade talks have taken place in the first month of the 2016 offseason, then the Patriots would have held onto signing Chris Hogan from Buffalo, and offered Danny Amendola, a second-round pick, and a third-round pick for Johnson. That's not the best offer, but I could see Bob Quinn accepting it.

 So Johnson makes his way to New England. What could have happened? Even though I believe Randy Moss is a better overall receiver than Calvin Johnson, I could see Johnson being more successful in New England, than Randy Moss was during his time in New England. There are two reasons why. First, Johnson's personality fits better with the Patriots' organization. Patriots' coaches want their players to be disciplined and all about executing their roles to make things happen on the field. Secondly, Brady has been a much better quarterback since 2013 than he was from 2007-2009. Yes, I know Brady tossed for 50 touchdowns in 2007 and was younger, but strangely since 2013, he has been more accurate, has been completing more deep passes, and has been reading defenses even better.

  Patriots did manage to go back to back Super Bowls in 2016 and 2017, winning one and losing one, but with Calvin Johnson on their side, they could have won both of them. Tom Brady and the Patriots lost the Super Bowl to the Philadelphia Eagles this past February after he failed to complete a hail-marry pass to Gronk. What if Johnson was in the end-zone with Gronk? I'd say Brady would have completed the pass to Johnson or even Gronk. With Johnson being there, Gronk would have two fewer people on him and that would have made it easier for him to catch the ball in the end-zone for the touchdown.

  All in all, if Calvin Johnson had joined the New England Patriots in 2016, then by now he would have had better numbers and possibly two Super Bowl rings. With those rings, many of us would have put Johnson over Randy Moss and Terrell Owens in our all-time wide receivers' rankings. He could have then retired as the second greatest receiver of all-time, only behind Jerry Rice!