The Detroit Lions announced Monday that Calvin Johnson will be added to the team’s Pride of the Lions, further signaling a repairing of the team’s relationship with the Hall of Fame wide receiver.
Johnson, 38, will be honored at halftime of the Sept. 30 game between the Lions and Seattle Seahawks on “Monday Night Football.”
There had been a rift between Johnson and the Lions after the team asked Johnson to repay $1.6 million of the signing bonus he had been given at the start of his last contract after he retired following the 2015 season. However, the Lions have worked to mend their relationship with Johnson the past few years.
Mike Disner, the Lions’ chief operating officer, surprised Johnson at his charity golf tournament on Monday with the announcement. Last year, Johnson told ESPN he gave Disner credit for helping to repair his relationship with the team.
Johnson told the “Up & Adams Show with Kay Adams” that Monday’s surprise announcement was a “tear-jerker.”
“I didn’t see it coming. I wasn’t expecting it,” Johnson said. “It is just an honor to be celebrated by my peers and by the city of Detroit.”
Johnson, who was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2021, holds the Lions’ franchise record for receptions (731), receiving yards (11,619) and touchdown catches (83). Johnson, who was selected to six Pro Bowls and three first-team All-Pro squads in his nine-season career, also holds the NFL’s single-season receiving yards record with 1,964 in 2012.
“We are thrilled to add Calvin Johnson Jr. to the Pride of the Lions,” Lions president and CEO Rod Wood said in a statement. “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.”
The Pride of the Lions, which was first unveiled in 2009, is a permanent display at Ford Field which honors the best players in the history of the franchise. Johnson will become the 21st former Lions player to receive the honor.