As NFL teams work to evaluate talent at the Scouting Combine and figure out what their needs are heading into 2016, the Detroit Lions are still waiting to determine if they will be left with a major hole at wide receiver.
Lions GM Bob Quinn told reporters on Wednesday that Calvin Johnson has yet to inform the team if he will play next season.
“I have spoken to Calvin, I did speak to Calvin, I’m not going to go into any details about what we talked about, and there is no update on his status right now,” Quinn said, per Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk. “I don’t have any expectations. We had a good conversation. He didn’t tell me if he’s leaning one way or the other. We’re giving him time to make that decision. There’s no deadline.”
While all indications to this point have been that Johnson is calling it a career, it’s a virtual certainty that he would need to agree to a restructured contract if he does return. Quinn said there have been no conversations about Megatron’s $24 million cap hit for 2016 just yet.
“We haven’t even gotten to that point yet,” he said. “That’s something that, if that does come down the road, we may talk about it, we may not. We haven’t even broached that topic yet, internally or externally.”
Johnson could really put the Lions in a tough position if he waits to make a decision. There has been some talk that he could return to the team with a customized practice schedule like this, but that seems very unlikely.
It’s fair to wonder if the Lions would prefer it if Megatron retired, as it would save them a ton of money and prevent a potentially sticky situation. One former teammate of Johnson’s believes the team isn’t making much of an effort to convince Megatron, and that could be the reason why.
