The Eagles added some significant offensive weapons in the offseason. A new report indicates they’d like to add another offensive weapon during the season. Per a source with knowledge of the situation, however, that report isn’t true.
Steven Albritton of KMBC in Kansas City reports that the Eagles are “aggressively pursuing” the rights for retired Lions receiver Calvin Johnson. Again, the source says that’s not the case.
Johnson retired after the 2015 season. Though he has from time to time said things that could be taken as a hint of a willingness to play for a contender, there’s no indication that he actually wants to play.
If he did want to play in 2017, something surely would have happened well before the final hours before the trading deadline. The story regarding the mere possibility of a trade seems to be a final-Sunday-before-the-deadline headline generator, with no real meat beyond the notion that perhaps one or more teams kicked the tires by calling the Lions.
The Lions likely would be willing to trade Johnson, since they’ll never get anything from him if they don’t. If Johnson wants out, however, he merely needs to show up in Detroit, which would instantly resurrect his $16 million base salary from 2016 and force the Lions to decide whether to keep him, trade him, or cut him. After Tuesday at 4:00 p.m. ET, the option of trading him disappears until March.