Quick! We need more buildup to the NFL Draft! The top prospects do not have enough pressure on them. Will they bust or become perennial Pro Bowlers? Matt Sussman and Tuffy examine both sides of each coin, writing articles from the year 2011 "looking back" on the top 2007 draft picks. Just another reason to own a flux capacitor.
Calvin Johnson as a Bust
PHILADELPHIA — As the season begins, this may be Calvin Johnson's best chance yet to win a Super Bowl.
The former first round draft pick, having endured four harsh years with a struggling Tampa Bay Buccaneers team, has found refuge with the Philadelphia Eagles after being released by Tampa this summer.
Johnson will be one of the top targets for Hall of Fame-bound quarterback Donovan McNabb, what with his eight Pro Bowls and two Super Bowl appearances, but no rings to show for the latter. McNabb, now 34, and Johnson, who turns 26 next month, may not be the sexiest QB-WR combination in the league, or even the best ever involving McNabb, but it just may be the right mix of veteran grit and flashy speed to help Philly endure the stifling NFC East.
Johnson was the second overall pick in the 2007 NFL Draft after the Tampa Bay Buccaneers traded up with the Detroit Lions, exchanging their fourth-round pick. The Georgia Tech wideout had no conceivable ceiling to his potential, but the talent went to waste as Chris Simms never re-materialized as a quarterback following his 2006 splenectomy. And the less said about Drew Bledsoe's comeback attempt with the Buccaneers, the better.
Johnson's first year in the league was indeed promising, catching 62 balls for 965 yards and seven touchdowns. But only one 1000-yard season to his name, coupled with nagging hamstring injuries which sidelined him for 8 games in 2009 (the Madden Curse strikes yet again), Johnson's career 2,606 reception yards pales in comparison to the promise he showed during his days at Tech.
With Johnson's expectations and ego no longer in orbit, he's aiming to contribute on an Eagles team re-loaded with veteran players. And perhaps he could earn that elusive ring, much like (no relation) Keyshaun Johnson, who also won a ring not as the No. 1 deep threat, but he did so with Gruden and the Bucs, not after his time there.
He could be a bust in draft experts' minds in that he won't be the next Marvin Harrison. But this "bust" isn't looking to go down in the NFL history books as a failure, much like a frighteningly similar talent—Randy Moss.
Read Tuffy's "Calvin Johnson The Star"
Article comments
1 - Michael J. West
Calvin Johnson, indie-rock icon and founder of the legendary K Records, is now playing in the NFL? What a multitalented man.
2 - Matthew T. Sussman
In BC Sports, music nerds have their pants pulled down and they are spanked with moon rocks.
3 - zingzing
ahh, but we music nerds moondance (yes, you can moondance with your pants down,) out of your spanking range and stick our shiny-shiny italian shoes up your ass!
4 - Vince Mullins
remember that Georgia Tech's Calvin Johnson Tackles Global Sanitation Problems too.
He really is the ####.