However banged up Megatron may have been, he hadn’t ceased producing at an elite level and missed only nine games in his career. The 30-year-old had 731 receptions for 11,619 yards and 83 touchdowns as one of the best receivers of his generation.
All of those bumps and bruises led to significant pain for Jonson.
Johnson’s career was relatively short by Hall of Fame standards. He was inducted despite having played just 135 games over nine seasons and retiring at age 30 after the 2015 season.
Calvin Johnson alluded to the physical toll football had taken on him when discussing his retirement in November 2020.
They’re blowing up the team. My body is aching. I don’t have my range of motion like I use to. I can’t get out, I can’t dig like I used to. I just don’t feel it,” Johnson said of his reasoning at that time.
On Thursday’s episode of the RG3 and The Ones, former NFL quarterback Robert Griffin III’s podcast, Johnson went even further—revealing he had been in such pain late in his career that he’d taken to using cannabis before games.
There were some games in my career, man, where I was like ‘I don’t know if I’m gonna make it today,’” Johnson said, chuckling along with Griffin.
In an era where opiates are causing more addiction issues than any time in American history, it’s sort of refreshing Calvin Johnson was ahead of the game during his time with the Detroit Lions.
The NFL used to punish players for smoking marijuana, but has recently changed the rule and they can no longer face suspension, fines or any other discipline for having weed in their system.
Leave a Reply