Calvin Johnson (Detroit Lions photo)
Most teams prefer to abide by the "Do Right Rule" when it comes to players retiring. When Tony Romo retired from the NFL last month, the Dallas Cowboys allowed him to keep $5 million in signing-bonus shares the team could have forced him to repay under the collective bargaining contract, writes Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press.
The Detroit Lions apparently feel differently.
When star Lion Calvin Johnson, aka Megatron, decided to retire in March 2016, the Lions required that he pay back part of the final proration of the signing bonus he received in 2012, which was $3.2 million. Johnson had to repay the team $320,000.
Johnson says he has no hard feelings, but that may not really be the case, the Freep reports.
Johnson was asked Saturday at his annual “Catching Dreams” camp about the possibility of having his jersey retired this fall, to which he told the Freep:
“I don’t even like to talk Lions too much just because the way our relationship ended. If they see me around here, we’ll see. But hey, I don’t know. . . .
"I just didn’t feel like I was treated the way I should have been treated on the way out,” Johnson tells the paper. “That’s all. I mean, it’s all good. I’m not tripping. I don’t feel any kind of way, just hey, that’s what they did. Hey, it is what is.”
