Lions' Relationship with Calvin Johnson 'Headed in the Right Direction'
There's no hiding the fact that the Lions have a fractured relationship with former star wide receiver Calvin Johnson.
Johnson, who will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame later this year, played his entire nine-year NFL career with the Lions, and was a three-time All-Pro.
He had a solid relationship with the organization during his playing days. But, things went sour after he retired in March 2016, and the Lions forced the all-time great to pay back at least $1 million of his $16M signing bonus.
Lions team president Rod Wood and the organization have been working to repair the relationship since, and Wood addressed the status of the team's relationship with Johnson in a video conference with local Detroit media Wednesday.
"On the Hall of Fame, we’re working actively with Calvin and his team on celebrations at the Hall of Fame and continuing to have conversations with him. I know he’s mentioned publicly that he’s connected with Sheila (Ford Hamp), and that’s a positive step," Wood told reporters. "So, we’ll continue to celebrate with him, and I think the relationship is headed in the right direction.”
KIRTHMON F. DOZIER, Imagn Content Services, LLC
Was the culture toxic under Matt Patricia?
During his media session Wednesday, Wood was also asked whether the team's former general manager and head coach -- Bob Quinn and Matt Patricia -- created a certain level of toxicity inside the locker room, as had previously been reported by members of the media and former Lions players.
"I’m not going to comment on the perception of the prior culture and whatever it’s labeled. I just know that going through that experience informed us on what the culture (is) we wanted. I’ll put it that way and how we pursued the candidates that we ended up hiring for our head coach and general manager," Wood said. "I can tell you, having sat in meetings during free agency and (I) sat in periodically in some of the Draft meetings, everything that we’ve described that we wanted is what’s happening."
Wood also reflected on the collaborative nature of the present regime, led by general manager Brad Holmes and head coach Dan Campbell.
"There’s great collaboration, there’s great participation. Everybody’s voice is being heard, and I think the results so far on what we’ve done and the results that will come later on will prove that point," Wood commented. "I think Dan (Campbell) and Brad (Holmes) are working amazingly well together for not having really known each other that well, prior to the process of hiring both of them. I think it was a big part of what we were looking for when we were hiring those two positions, to find people that we really believed could work together and create that kind of collaborative culture."
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