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Calvin Johnson: Single-season receiving record 'bound to fall,' honored by NFL alum
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- Calvin Johnson: Single-season receiving record 'bound to fall,' honored by NFL alum
Tyreek Hill might have got it last year if not for injuries. Cooper Kupp came close two years before that.
Eventually, someone will set a new NFL single-season record for receiving yards, and the man who holds the current mark — Hall of Fame former Detroit Lions receiver Calvin Johnson — is fine with that.
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"I mean, it's bound to fall at some point the way it's going so it is what it is," Johnson told the Free Press on Monday. "I held it down, I don't know even know how long, over a decade now."
Johnson set the current mark of 1,964 yards 12 years ago in 2012, when he caught a career-best 122 passes and averaged a whopping 122.8 yards per game.
The NFL has expanded to a 17-game schedule in the years since and tweaked its rules to make offense an even bigger part of the game, and Johnson sees a handful of worthy challengers to the record in a league that had three 1,500-yard receivers last year (including the Lions' Amon-Ra St. Brown ).
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Calvin Johnson is named NFL Alumni of the year from the Detroit NFLPA chapter at their golf outing Monday, June 10, 2024, with Rob Rubick, left, and Pete Chryplewicz.
Hill led the NFL with 1,799 yards and 13 touchdowns in 16 games. He was on pace to become the league's first 2,000-yard receiver before injuring his ankle last December and missing a game against the New York Jets .
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Justin Jefferson just signed the richest contract for a receiver in NFL history , and Johnson said it's possible the Minnesota Vikings and rookie quarterback J.J. McCarthy lean heavily enough on Jefferson that he challenges the 2,000-yard mark this fall.
Ja'Marr Chase of the Cincinnati Bengals is a possibility, if he and Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow stay healthy, Johnson said. And Johnson marveled at what Los Angeles Rams receiver Puka Nucua did last season in his rookie year.
"That boy, he can hit the seam hard, goodness gracious," Johnson said.
Nacua, like Johnson and Cupp (whose 1,947 yards in 2021 are the second-most in NFL history), played in an offense led by Matthew Stafford at quarterback.
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"They want more offense, man, so at some point (it's going to happen)," Johnson said. "You got to be healthy. You got to play really a full 17 now. … That's the key. You got to be healthy. If you can play 17, guys have put up numbers, you're going to put up numbers. That 17, you get that extra game to put another 150 or 200 (yards)."
Kerby Joseph (31) hugs Calvin Johnson as they stand on stage during the Detroit Lions' new uniform reveal event inside Ford Field in Detroit on Thursday, April 18, 2024.
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Johnson was honored Monday at the Detroit chapter of the NFL Alumni Association's charity golf outing as the group's 2024 Alumni of the Year.
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Along with his legendary career, the first-ballot Hall of Famer was honored for the charitable work he does through his Calvin Johnson Jr. Foundation in both the Detroit and Atlanta areas.
The foundation hosted its annual scholarship awards banquet in Atlanta last week, and has a dinner event for Detroit-area scholarship winners, a youth football camp and celebrity golf outing in metro Detroit next month.
Scholarship winners receive a one-time $4,000 award to cover college expenses, and a book scholarship that covers the costs of school supplies in ensuing years. Johnson said his goal is make the $4,000 scholarship an annual award, and his foundation is close to making that happen after the success of last year's golf outing.
The Detroit chapter of the NFL Alumni Association also provides separate scholarships to high school athletes who go on to pursue educational opportunities in college.
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"We got a platform, we've been blessed and I don't quote the scripture, but to whom much is given, much is required we kind of take that to heart," Johnson said. "Like I say, definitely in a position to inspire and bless others financially or just through our foundation in whatever way with many of our community initiatives. There's a lot of synergy between what the (NFL Alumni Association) has going in that respect and what we do."
Calvin Johnson speaks with a fan. Johnson was named NFL Alumni of the year from the Detroit NFLPA chapter at their golf outing Monday, June 10, 2024.
Lions president Rod Wood said this spring Johnson was "completely in the fold" with the organization after years of acrimony between the two parties following Johnson's abrupt retirement after the 2015 season.
The Lions forced Johnson to repay a $1.6 million portion of his signing bonus at the time of his retirement, like they did Barry Sanders nearly two decades earlier, but which went against NFL protocol.
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Johnson and the organization remained at odds through his Hall of Fame enshrinement in 2021 , but their relationship thawed in recent years . Johnson attended several home games last season and took part in the team's new uniform unveiling this spring.
In March, Ford Field announced a partnership to make Johnson's Primitiv Performance line of products the stadium's first CBD-based performance product partner. Wood said at the time the deal did not require NFL approval, and that the partnership could be reinvented to include Lions games if the NFL were to loosen its restrictions on cannabis-based products.
Johnson said Monday he has no issues with the organization now and is "excited" about the team's prospects this fall.
"I think the biggest thing for me was when I had a conversation with Rod to clear the air," he said. "I've talked with (owner) Sheila (Hamp) over the years. I'm good with everybody. I'm good with (general manager) Brad (Holmes). I'm excited for the team. That's definitely, we're on the up and up, I guess you could say, from that aspect."
Detroit Lions Calvin Johnson catches a touchdown against the Miami Dolphins Brent Grimes during first-half action on November 9, 2014, at Ford Field in Detroit.
Johnson said he planned to attend the Super Bowl in February had the Lions beat the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC championship game and will be there next year if the Lions reach the game for the first time in franchise history.
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"I love it. I can't wait to see this year," Johnson said. "I think they created a ton of believers out of all of us, not that we didn't believe, this is where we played at. But obviously with (head coach) Dan (Campbell) and those guys coming in here, Brad, just the culture right now is a good feel. All the player-coaches on the staff, that's great, man. That's fricking awesome."
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com . Follow him on X and Instagram at @davebirkett.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Calvin Johnson explain how beef with Detroit Lions management ended
