They needed him off the books for cap reasons, and if he hadn’t retired they likely would have cut him. That said, the Lions shouldn’t have asked for it back. He received it as an advance on future services. Technically, Johnson hadn’t earned the money. You cannot have me back unless you put that money back in my pocket. And then are y’all gonna still really hang out? Are y’all still cool? And imagine you did a whole bunch of work for it, too. They gave you something and then they take it back. Imagine you had a friend - well, maybe not even a friend, just somebody. They also offered to make a $100,000 donation to a charity of Johnson’s choice, pushing the total payout to $1.6 million. The Lions recently offered to pay Johnson $500,000 per year for three years, if he worked 28 hours per year. “I’m not saying they got to repay me the $1.6 all up front, but they need to figure out a way to do it, and not have me work for it, because I already did the work for it.”
