NFL: 30 of the biggest what-ifs in NFL history

NFL: 30 of the biggest what-ifs in NFL history: 19. Calvin Johnson makes a run at Jerry Rice

For as great as Calvin Johnson was during his NFL career, winning simply wasn’t in the cards for him.

The Detroit Lions grabbed him with the second pick in the 2007 NFL Draft and continued to lose games left and right. If Johnson went above colossal bust JaMarcus Russell, he would’ve continued to lose with the Las Vegas Raiders. So for Johnson’s “what if”, we’re taking a look at his placement on the all-time wide receivers list.

At the age of 30, with plenty of great football left in him, Johnson walked away from the game. He currently ranks 23rd in receiving touchdowns with 83 and 32nd in receiving yards with 11,619. While he was still roughly 11,000 yards away from the all-time leader Jerry Rice, Johnson was still highly productive during his final year. The last time he laced up his cleats he easily made 88 catches for 1,214 yards. There’s reason to believe with the elongated career of players today, he reasonably speaking could have gotten within shouting distance of Rice.

The lack of winning would have ultimately hurt his case but Johnson would have been considered possibly the greatest wide receiver of all time. To further capture his greatness, despite having a relatively short career, Johnson became only the seventh wide receiver in NFL history to enter the Hall of Fame on the first ballot.

If the Lions weren’t so God awful, we could’ve experienced someone who truly challenged Jerry Rice for the wide receiver throne.