Calvin Johnson credits Lions executive for mending his relationship with team

Calvin Johnson recently hinted that his relationship with the Lions is improving, and it sounds like a particular team executive has taken the lead to mend those fences.

Earlier this month, in an interview with the New York Post, Hall of Famer Calvin Johnson hinted that his relationship with the Detroit Lions is improving. Not that it could’ve been much worse, as the team forced him to pay back $1.6 million in signing bonus money after he retired.

Over the years since, as Johnson moved toward Pro Football Hall of Fame induction, mending the relationship so his No. 81 can be retired has been the hope for many fans. Johnson primarily took issue with team president Rod Wood for the money payback deal, but there are different people working in the organization otherwise and a different member of the Ford family (Sheila Ford Hamp) is the principal owner.

Many NFL teams take their relationship with alumni players very seriously. From a broad view, the Lions haven’t felt like one of those teams.

Calvin Johnson says a particular team executive has helped mend relationship with Lions

Johnson was on “The Jim Rome Show” Tuesday. He pointed to a renewed relationship with the Lions that’s finally seriously moving in the right direction.

"We’re having some good conversations,”“Mike Disner over there with the Lions . . . he’s putting the effort in to bring the two of us together, on the same page. I’m excited about him actually reaching out and putting the effort forth to try to make that happen. That’s the difference that I have not seen in the past that’s happening now.So I’m excited about it because I want to get back around football and help out the team.I’m excited to be around the team again. Just being around football and allowing my kids to see some of the things that I was able to do while I was in Detroit.”"

Disner originally came to the Lions in 2019 to help with the team’s salary cap stuff, and his role has grown to a more prominent post as COO. It appear he saw how ridicilous it is that the Lions have had a contentious relationship with one of the best players in franchise history, and in a position to do so he has done something about it.