As the Detroit Lions prepare to honor legendary wide receiver Calvin Johnson with an induction into the Pride of the Lions in 2024, the Hall of Famer is being honored in a yet another way.
ESPN recently put together a list of the top-100 professional athletes of the 21st century and Johnson made the cut at No. 57. He was the only former Lions player to make the cut.
Lions beat writer Eric Woodyard was responsible for the write-up for Johnson and said the following:
Known as Megatron, Johnson was at the peak of his powers in 2012. That’s when he set an NFL single-season record with 1,964 receiving yards, breaking Jerry Rice’s record of 1,848 that had stood since 1985. “It was an unbelievable thing to play with a guy like that. I think from day one, I knew that I was throwing to a Hall of Famer as long as he stayed healthy,” Matthew Stafford, Johnson’s quarterback during the receiver’s last seven seasons with the Detroit Lions, told ESPN in 2021. “He was a special player and a great person, a great teammate.” At 6-foot-5 and 237 pounds, Johnson possessed a 42½-inch vertical leap that allowed him to outjump defenders in video game fashion.
A former first-round pick of the Lions in 2007, Johnson had a sensational career in Detroit and retired with plenty left in the tank, as he tallied over 1,200 yards in his final season.
He broke 1,000 yards in all but two seasons in the NFL and led the league twice in receiving yards. He also holds the record for the most receiving yards in a single season, a feat he accomplished in 2012 when he tallied 1,964.
Johnson was rightly inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2021. He will be inducted into the Pride of the Lions at halftime of the Week 4 game against the Seattle Seahawks.
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