Years after acknowledging a longstanding feud with the Detroit Lions, Calvin Johnson is officially returning to — and reconciling with — the franchise, with the team announcing Monday the Hall of Fame wide receiver will be inducted into the club’s Pride of the Lions memorial at Ford Field.
Lions chief operating officer Mike Disner surprised Johnson with the news at the retired receiver’s annual charity golf outing at the Detroit Golf Club on Monday, along with plans to commemorate Johnson during halftime of the team’s Week 4 Monday night game against the Seattle Seahawks on Sept. 30.
“We are thrilled to add Calvin Johnson Jr. to the Pride of the Lions,” Lions CEO Rod Wood said Monday. “His commitment on the field and to the city of Detroit are legendary and this is a well-deserved honor. We are proud that he will be forever memorialized inside Ford Field and as a Detroit Lion.”
Pride of the Lions is a permanent display inside the team’s stadium, erected in 2009 to honor the best players in franchise history. Johnson, who retired in 2016 after nine seasons with Detroit, will be the 21st player added to the display, which also features all-time greats like Barry Sanders, Bobby Layne, Dick “Night Train” Lane and Dick LeBeau.
“I shed a tear, because I didn’t see it coming,” Johnson told the “Up & Adams” show of the news. “I wasn’t expecting it. It’s just an honor to be celebrated by my peers and by the city of Detroit.”
The honor comes three years after Johnson was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as the Lions’ all-time leader in career catches, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns. Originally drafted second overall out of Georgia Tech in 2007, he still holds the NFL record for most receiving yards in a single season (1,964) and ranks among the league’s top 35 pass catchers in career receiving yards.