Calvin Johnson will not be returning to an NFL field near you anytime soon.
The former Detroit Lions receiver said at his southeast Michigan football camp on Saturday that he has no intention of returning to the NFL in his first public comments since retiring in March.
“I’m not coming back,” Johnson said Saturday, via Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press. “You ain’t got to worry about that.”
Johnson denied that the Lions’ culture of losing was a factor in his retirement, saying instead it was simply the wear and tear of the NFL taking its toll on him.
“I know everybody wants to know why I retired, but it’s more so, I put a lot into the game and it’s taken a lot out of me and that’s where I’m at right now,” Johnson said. “I’m not going to get into the specifics of the things that I feel it’s taken away, but it definitely feels good, I guess I can say for myself, to spend more time around the family, my son, I just got married, so things are going good right now.
“I wouldn’t just quit because we were losing. It was just body. I was just tired of it, fed up. Just had enough.”
Johnson said he intends to go back to school as well as spend time with his family.
It sounds like Matthew Stafford was correct in his thinking that Johnson was done playing for good. It remains to be seen if his assertion about the Lions being more dangerous will hold true, though.
