Former Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson is once again in the news, but this time it’s about the future hall of fame QB Aaron Rodgers.
In an appearance on the “All The Smoke” Podcast with former NBA players Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes — Johnson revealed that he used to long to play for the Green Bay Packers during his Lions career. He even claims to have told Packers QB Aaron Rodgers about it during games between the two NFC North rivals.
“Whenever we played Green Bay, whenever Aaron Rodgers was over on our sideline, he would say, ‘Hey man, you need to come on over here,’” Johnson told Barnes and Jackson. “I said, ‘Hey, I wish I could.’”
Johnson called it quits in 2015, after being selected to his sixth consecutive Pro Bowl and amassing 88 catches for 1,214 yards and nine touchdowns.
He played on just two winning teams, and never recorded a single playoff victory during his time with the Lions.
“It was unfortunate,” Johnson said. “You can’t help but have the feeling like we obviously didn’t maximize the talent that we had. And all anybody can do is point at themselves and say, ‘What could I have done better?’ I could have had maybe 2,000 yards or 1,500 yards one year, and that could have helped. Or maybe there was a ball that I could have, should have, caught.
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“Just the simple fact that we didn’t maximize the talent. You got me on offense, you’ve got [Matt] Stafford, you got Ndamukong Suh on defense. You’ve got some beasts all around the team in key positions, that you should be able to have a winning team. We just didn’t have the winning culture, though. There’s a lot more that goes into it than having those key players.”
