Calvin Johnson

• Detroit Lions (2007 -present)

Calvin Johnson ( born September 25, 1985 in Newnan, Georgia) is an American professional American football player at the position of wide receiver. Johnson plays for the Detroit Lions in the National Football League ( NFL). He is nicknamed " Megatron ".

Previous years

Johnson attended Sandy Creek High School in Tyrone, Georgia. Even in high school he was regarded for his outstanding physique as a future NFL wide receiver. In 2004 he was listed as the best player of his school and the nation's seventh of the best high school players.

College

2004 Johnson moved to Georgia Institute of Technology and played for the school team, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets College Football. In his first year as a freshman, he got to be the best wide receiver of his team, he caught 48 balls by which he carried 837 yards wide, and scored seven touchdowns. He also presented the school record for a most -caught balls, most yards and most touchdowns in the first year of college. He was elected to the First Team All- ACC for this service.

In his three years at college he could catch 178 balls, with which he scored 2,927 yards and 28 touchdowns. He set the school record for most captive balls and most touchdowns by this performance.

NFL Draft

In 2007, Johnson filed for for the NFL Draft. Johnson is distinguished by exceptional physique from, despite his 1.96 meters and 108 kilograms, it ran at the NFL Combine 40- yard dash in 4.35 seconds and jumped out of the stand 1.14 meters in height. Prior to his NFL career, he was compared to Randy Moss. Johnson was at the draft in the first round selected second by the Detroit Lions and signed a six - year contract with the Lions in August 2007.

NFL career

Johnson celebrated his NFL debut for the Lions in the game 9 September 2007 against the Oakland Raiders, also because of the power Johnson - was recovered with 36:21 - he caught four balls for 70 yards and scored a touchdown. His first run touchdown he scored on 21 October 2007, when he could carry the ball for 32 yards into the end zone. During this time, Johnson got his nickname: In an interview with wide receiver Roy Williams of Johnson called because of its particularly strong physique and his good game " Megatron " because he was equipped as scary and with such big hands like the same battle robot. His first year he finished with 48 caught balls for 756 yards and four touchdowns.

In his second year in the NFL Johnson could catch balls for over 1,000 yards for the first time. Overall, he caught 78 balls for a total of 1331 yards and twelve touchdowns. Despite this performance, the Lions finished the season without a single victory with 0:16, which represented the worst performance of a team in NFL history. Johnson's performance is all the more impressive because he played a total of three different quarterbacks.

2009 got the Lions Jim Schwartz with a new head coach, who performed a complete rebuild of the team. It had this year, most of the old team go, but not Johnson. The Lions finished the season with a record of 2:14, and again had to Johnson at times, with three different quarterbacks play after the rookie quarterback Matthew Stafford in a game against the Cleveland Browns injured his shoulder and turned out the rest of the season. Overall, Johnson started 14 games in 67 balls for 984 yards and five touchdowns.

In the 2010 season, Johnson started 15 games in 77 balls for 1120 yards and scored twelve touchdowns. Because of injuries the Lions quarterbacks played Johnson again this year at times under three quarterbacks. The consistency in his performances - despite the different types of players at the quarterback position - in 2010 brought him his first Pro Bowl participate. In addition, he was elected to the Second All-Pro team.

In the 2011 season, Johnson was able to increase one more time by having achieved at 96 caught passes, 1681 yards and 16 touchdowns space gain. The Lions reached this year with 10 wins and 6 losses for the first time since 1999, the play-offs. In the 2012 season, in the clearly missed the Lions with only five wins this season, the play-offs, Johnson made ​​for a personal highlight: he scored 1,964 yards space thanks caught passes, breaking the record set by Jerry Rice.