Former Lions WR Johnson: I 'don't miss' playing football
Former Detroit Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson made it clear that he doesn't miss playing football.
"I miss my teammates, for sure. I miss Coach Caldwell. I miss giving fans something to be excited about. I miss the competition," Johnson wrote in a piece for The Players' Tribune published Tuesday . "But I can honestly say that I don't miss playing.
"I love football. But it became difficult to love the game as much when I was in some sort of pain every day. I never talked about it while I was playing because ... what good would that do? It wouldn't make me hurt any less. It would just sound like an excuse. And I hate making excuses. So I continued to play as best I could for as long as I could, which turned out to be nine years."
Johnson announced his retirement from the league following the 2015 season. The then-30-year-old was still dominant in his final campaign, hauling in 88 passes for 1,214 yards and nine touchdowns and being named a Pro Bowler for the sixth time.
In his career, Johnson totaled 11,619 receiving yards and 83 touchdowns. He played in all 16 of the Lions' games in 2015 despite battling an ankle injury.
"There were days when I was elated because I was breaking records and making my family, friends and fans proud. But the more I played ... even that pride couldn't outweigh the pain I felt while shuffling my feet across the floor because I couldn't bend my ankles," Johnson writes. "I didn't want to worry about potentially being in too much pain to play with my son, you know?
"And that's not all. My fingers are all kinds of jacked up. My job was to play receiver. I got paid to catch the ball. But there was a point when every time the ball hit my fingers, they ached.
"There were other aches and pains and things I don't need to go into, but eventually, my body said to me, "I'm done.'"
In the piece, Johnson lists some of the activities he's taken up in retirement -- skiing, surfing, golfing and fishing -- and describes his experience participating in the TV show "Dancing With the Stars" in 2016.
In ending his post, Johnson shot down any notion of a possible comeback, which he says he's still asked about by fans frequently:
"No, I'm not coming back. I appreciate all the love. I really do. But football was my passion. It is not my purpose."
--Field Level Media
