Would Lions' Calvin Johnson really consider retiring at age 30?

Could another Detroit Lions legend walk away before his best days are behind him?

A generation after Barry Sanders walked away from the NFL after sending a fax to his hometown newspaper after the 1999 season, the franchise's best player since Sanders — wide receiver Calvin Johnson — is considering retirement, according to the Detroit Free Press and CBS Detroit.

Sanders stepped away at age 31 after his 10th season. Johnson, 30, just finished his ninth season in the league. The reports suggest that he has taken a physical toll and that people who know Johnson well say retirement isn't out of the realm of possibilities.

Johnson issued a vague joint statement with the Lions amid the speculation.

“Like many players at this stage of their career, I am currently evaluating options for my future," Johnson said in his portion of the statement. "I would expect to have a decision regarding this matter in the not-too-distant future.”
"We obviously have profound respect for Calvin and certainly understand and appreciate his decision to give proper thought and consideration to his football future," the Lions said in their part.

Why now? Why is Johnson evaluating his options after turning 30 this past season?

"There has been some conversations about it, not asking me how it is," one former anonymous teammate who has talked to Johnson told the Free Press. "But I think the guy's beat up. I think he's been through enough. And I think it's just his time. He's made the money, got the records, but whatever. I don't know for sure if he's going to do it. I don't know if he's going to get that itch to keep going. I really don't know."

Johnson missed a combined five games in 2013 and 2014 because of knee, finger and ankle injuries. He also sprained his ankle in Week 8 against the Kansas City Chiefs, and the injury affected him down the stretch as a frequent occupant on the injury list and often limited on the practice field.

That said, Johnson finished this season with a Pro Bowl selection with 88 catches, 1,214 yards and nine touchdowns — leading the Lions in yards and TDs and second to Golden Tate in receptions.

There has been a lot of speculation about the future of Johnson in Detroit given that he was due to count $17 million against the Lions' salary cap and could be, depending on the new Lions general manager, a financial casualty.

After the season, Johnson was vague and dismissive of his future. Could this retirement chatter be a way of forcing the team to release him and allow him to sign elsewhere? It's possible, and Johnson might be trying to leverage the situation. This becomes more likely considering his agent is Bus Cook, who employed this strategy — more than once! — brilliantly with Brett Favre, another Cook client.

But Johnson could spare all that talk if he surprises us and calls it a career.

Would he be in the Hall of Fame discussion if this is it? Perhaps, but we might be forced to have the Gayle Sayers optics — or, on the flip side, Terrell Davis — for a player who dominated but for a relatively short period by Hall standards. Johnson ranks 27th in league history in receiving yards (11,619), which is just behind Hall of Famer Michael Irvin; 43rd in receptions (731), which is just on the heels of Irvin but also behind Santana Moss; and 22nd all time in TD catches with 83.

It's stunning to consider that Johnson could walk with the ability to still play at a high level. But the quiet Johnson, when asked if the Week 17 game against the Chicago Bears would be his last game as a Lion, said, "Ah, man, you never know. ... I don't have anything to contemplate, really. Just really, just, I guess you wait and see."

We just didn't realize he might have been considering playing his final game for any team.