NFL trade rumors: Teams have approached Lions about dealing Calvin Johnson

Calvin Johnson has been out of football for a season and a half, but he’s still apparently drawing interest from around the league. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, two unnamed teams have approached the Detroit Lions regarding a trade for the retired receiver.

According to Schefter, the Lions are responding to trade requests by asking teams to get into contact with Johnson himself. “The Lions told teams to reach out to Johnson to gauge his reaction, but so far it has been non-committal at best,” Schefter reported.

This should come as no surprise to anyone paying attention to Megatron after his retirement. Johnson has said repeatedly that he’s happy being retired and has no interest in ever making a return. “It’s not happening,” Johnson told the Detroit Free Press back in May. “I’m not coming back, man,” he said to ESPN in December.

However, it appears that hasn’t deterred teams from at least testing the waters with Johnson. This offseason, Johnson had some choice words in regards to his relationship with the Lions. He claimed his contract left him “stuck” in Detroit and he “didn’t see a chance for them to win a Super Bowl at the time” and that was part of the reason he retired.

Perhaps it was this discontent that has sparked discussion between other teams and Johnson, but it still appears he has not budged from his retired stance. For what it’s worth, though, it looks like the Lions are open to the idea of trading him.

However, this seems like teams just doing their due diligence. Johnson has been clear and consistent regarding his disinterest in coming out of retirement, and there’s no real reason to believe his mind has changed after a year and a half.

The trade deadline is Tuesday, so if anything changes, we’ll know soon.