this man is clearly by far the most gifted receiver who has ever come along in the history of this league holy he really is 66 he really runs a 4-3 and he's really 240 every bit of it SL catch go balls catch D whatever he wanted to run it was a catch if Stafford feel like nobody would open Calvin open there are plenty of legendary NFL receivers but none have been as dominant as Calvin Johnson and Megatron's leg Legendary Run with the Detroit Lions was just the final step in proving that he was simply unguardable cuz from the very first time he put on a helmet he was already dominating Johnson was born and raised in the outskirts of Atlanta by a family that prioritized their son getting a strong education but considering Johnson was 6 feet tall in Middle School it became clear he had a special frame and a once in a lifetime Talent Johnson went on to play for Sandy Creek High School where he racked up an impressive 1,400 179 receiving yards and 18 TDS for the Patriots he quickly garnered attention from college Scouts and college recruiting giant rivals.com named him the top player in Georgia for the 2004 class despite his growing profile Johnson committed to his hometown School Georgia Tech and suiting up for the yellow jackets allowed Johnson to play at the highest level while also getting his education from one of the top schools in the Southeast then in just his first few games with Georgia Tech it was clear that the young Megatron was a problem in his second ever Collegiate game Johnson tore up Clemson's secondary for 127 receiving yards and three touchdowns to lead a 28-24 victory ACC defenses had a new monster to deal with but Johnson was just getting started he was named the ACC Rookie of the Year totaling 837 receiving yards and seven touchdowns Johnson followed up with an almost identical campaign to make the first team all ACC list for a second-year running but both of those seasons were just teasing compared to his monstrous 2006 campaign Johnson seemingly made history each week bringing down 76 receptions for 1,22 receiving yards and 15 touchdowns That season Megatron was named the ACC player of the year the winner of the Fred bnov Award for best Collegiate receiver and set Georgia Tech records for most all-time receiving yards and touchdown receptions after clearly establishing himself as the best receiver in college football Johnson could only go up so he decided to foro his senior season and announced his plans to enter the NFL draft almost instantly Johnson was projected to go in the top five picks and the insane hype only grew once he completed his combine testing where he ran a 43540 yard dash despite weighing 235 lb and measuring in at 6'5 that kind of speed is unheard of for a play of that size even with his freakish athleticism Johnson actually went second overall to the Detroit Lions the Detroit Lions take wide receiver Calvin Johnson Georgia Tech after the Oakland Raiders took LSU QB Demarcus Russell first Russell became Infamous for being one of the biggest draft busts of all time so passing on Megatron was a major blunder however the lions in typical Lions fashion were also initially planning to trade away the once in a-lifetime wide receiver after drafting him it's one of the modern NFL's great what if moments because while the Lions ultimately made the right decision in keeping Johnson for the Long Haul for Megatron he was joined winning Detroit right as they entered the greatest low in franchise history and this is a franchise with a lot of lows but after 756 receiving yards and four touchdowns in a solid rookie campaign in 2007 Johnson was the only saving grace on the 2008 Lions Detroit went 0 and6 That season becoming the only team in NFL history to lose 16 games in a single season but what was a terrible season for the team was a great season for Calvin Johnson he brought down 7 8 receptions for a whopping 1,331 receiving yards despite catching passes from three different quarterbacks throughout the season he also had 12 receiving touchdowns which led the NFC yet somehow he was still not named to the Pro Bowl or the all pro teams for his first two seasons Johnson was stuck on a bad Lions roster that had a rotating cast at QB but in 2009 there was hope in Detroit because they used their first overall pick in the draft to take QB Matthew Stafford finally giving Johnson a franchise QB to build with in 2009 Megatron put up a th000 total scrimmage yards in Stafford's rookie season but the Stafford Johnson connection didn't properly begin due to the Lions QB injury and development issues Stafford played in just 10 games as a rookie and then in 2010 he played in just three games and he wasn't performing well either when he did play throwing 21 interceptions over the 13 games that he suited up but despite having a rotating set of QBs during Stafford's second season Johnson still caught 7 7 passes for 1,120 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns to make his first Pro Bowl in his fourth NFL season after all the losses and several different quarterbacks Megatron had proven to the NFL that it didn't matter who was throwing to him he was going to make plays and in 2011 when Stafford was healthy and NFL ready the lion situation shifted dramatically Johnson could finally reach his potential with one of the strongest arms in NFL history and Johnson's Ascension into Megatron status had truly begun despite Johnson's great 2010 season and the potential of a healthy Stafford expectations were minimal this was still a lions franchise that was just a few years removed from a winless season but Detroit quickly put the NFL World on notice Megatron exploded into the season for the Lions as they won their opener against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers going off for 88 receiving yards and two touchdowns that was just the first taste of how Untouchable Johnson could be over the first four games of the season Johnson caught two touchdown passes in each game even when his total yards would dip like his three catches for 27 yards in the week two win over the Kansas City Chiefs he still brought in two scores his second straight two touchdown game he's got four TDS in the Red Zone just throw it up to Calvin and let him eat the lions were 5-0 after five games but Megatron's numbers were even more impressive than the win streak Johnson had racked up 451 receiving yards and nine touchdowns the kind of stats that an average NFL receiver would be pleased with for his entire season after a booming start Detroit and Johnson went two and five over their next seven contests but Johnson was still performing at an elite level averaging over 91 yards per game and adding another three touchdowns Detroit wasn't living or Dying by Megatron he was just producing regardless like he had done his entire career Johnson continued to be a dominant presence on the field as Detroit turned their season back around to finish with a 10 and six record and when looking at the most unguardable stretch of his career it starts at the end of the 2011 season in week 15 Johnson did something exceedingly rare crossing the 200 yd mark for a receiver with 214 receiving yards and two touchdowns on nine receptions only a small percentage of receivers have reached that total and only a fraction of those receivers have done it multiple times so because one time wasn't enough Megatron did it again in week 17 with a mon monstrous regular season finale with 244 receiving yards and a touchdown then Johnson made his postseason debut the following week against the New Orleans Saints by putting up another breathtaking performance with 21 receiving yards and two touchdowns and a 4528 loss for starters that is the seventh most receiving yards in a playoff game ever and Megatron did it in his first playoff game plus he caught over 200 receiving yards three times in a 4-game stretch he finished the season with 1,681 receiving yards and 16 touchdowns and any NFL fan that wasn't aware of Johnson's ability had no choice but to respect how incredible he was now as he was named a first team all proo for the first time in addition to making the Pro Bowl Johnson's 2011 season was one for the ages and it's almost too bad that it was immediately overshadowed by his even more memorable record-breaking season in 2012 now that NFL defenses knew how good Johnson was opposing coordinators and coaches did everything they could to stop him but Johnson was a man on a mission and Megatron proved that in week one picking up right where he left off with 111 receiving yards against the St Louis Rams however the first half of Johnson's season was not the memorable part of his 2012 campaign it was still impressive because the Lions Legend went over the 100 yard Mark three times in seven games but a lot of great receivers can put up those numbers and Megatron was not just another great receiver he was different and those who didn't know that found out starting in week nine what followed was something the NFL had literally never seen eight straight games with 100 plus receiving yards it was a new league record and one that still stands Johnson rattled off game after game of being simply unguardable setting a record-breaking Pace along the way over those eight games Johnson racked up 1,254 receiving yards and added four touchdowns essentially Megatron put up all pro numbers in the span of a half season and what's possibly the most wild about that run is how bad the lions were Detroit went 1 and seven in that span and would end up losing their final eight games of the season on their way to a 4-2 record entering the final two games of the Season Megatron was sitting at 1,667 receiving yards Hall of Famer Jerry Rice's seemingly Untouchable single season receiving yards record 1,841 was in reach and Johnson had 2 weeks to reach it Johnson exploded in week 16 totaling 225 receiving yards in a monstrous performance Megatron into the record books the single season all time NFL receiving yardage record now a new goal appeared 2,000 receiving yards a total that no NFL receiver had ever reached and Johnson came Incredibly Close Stafford to Calvin Johnson 90 yards away from 2000 now the Detroit icon could only catch five passes for 72 ydd it wasn't due to a lack of trying though as Stafford threw 14 passes at Johnson but just could not get on target we can't catch a break do the Lions lost a tight 26-24 game to the Chicago Bears for their eighth straight loss only rubbing more salt in the wound but there was no question about Megatron's season it was the most incredible single season receiving performance in NFL history he totaled 1,964 receiving yards an NFL record that still stands today he was also named a first team allpro for the second straight season and while 2012 was the best season of Johnson's career his greatest game actually came the following year by 2013 Megatron putting up well over a, receiving yards each season had become normalized but what wasn't normal was totaling over 300 yard in a single game in a 3130 barn burner win over the Dallas Cowboys Johnson caught a staggering 14 passes for 320 69 yards and a touchdown the performance ranks as the second all time in terms of total receiving yards in a game and Megatron would not stop there cuz in 2013 he put up 1,492 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns in just 14 games it was the third consecutive year he averaged over 100 yards per game and his third straight season as a first team allpro one of the most dominant three-year stretches the NFL has ever seen The Following season in 2014 he only played in 13 games but still put up 1,77 receiving yards then coming into 2015 fans would have never expected that Johnson was approaching the end of his career he was not far removed from his record-breaking years and he was still consistently going over the thousand yard Mark even in 2015 Johnson totaled 1,214 receiving yards and nine touchdowns but he had reached his limit after setting countless franchise and League records on March 8th 2016 Megatron officially announced that he would be hanging it up after nine NFL seasons despite only missing eight games in his entire career the physical toll the game took on his body had become too much Johnson later stated that the team refused to trade him and their inability to compete for a championship also played into his decision Johnson played in just two playoff games in his 9-year career but even without a team around him Megatron always found a way to Ball Out and because of this in his first year of Eligibility Johnson was inducted into the pro Football Hall of Fame immortalized as the most unguardable player the league has ever seen and if you want more of the greatest NFL stories click this video right here and subscribe to blitz so you never miss a video again
