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Pro Football Hall of Fame wide receiver Calvin Johnson raised eyebrows during his recent appearance on the "Chasing No. 1" podcast that features Bengals wideout Ja'Marr Chase.
Nearing the NFL trade deadline, many supporters of the Detroit Lions are again clamoring for the team to be willing to add high-end talent.
Johnson referenced his team in Motown and how the organization was not willing to make an all-in move when Matthew Stafford was under center.
"The biggest thing for me is that, I used to always say, we tell everybody we got the team here in Detroit," said Johnson. "We had the dudes, but you can't win a Super Bowl on a budget, man. You got to go all in. You got to go all in. That's what you see teams do. They go all-in and get that one piece or two pieces that they're missing, to get them all the way there over the last couple seasons."
“You can’t win a Super Bowl on a budget” pic.twitter.com/1YYn6olWgm
— DetroitSportsPodcast (@DetroitPodcast) November 5, 2026
The Rams were willing to make a blockbuster trade in 2020, shipping the Lions two first-round draft picks in order to land the former No. 1 overall pick.
In his first season away from Detroit, Stafford was able to hoist the Lombardi Trophy for the first time.
Johnson expressed he believed the Lions could have had more success, had the organization been more willing to go all-in.
"We had most of the pieces there in Detroit," Johnson noted. "And so for me, when he won Super Bowl, literally the first year after he left Detroit, I'm out there like, 'I mean, I told y'all what we had.'"
A recent ESPN report indicated general manager Brad Holmes has been inquiring about available cornerbacks in the trade market.
Unfortunately, the Lions may also be competing with the Chicago Bears for the same quality defenders.
“The Bears made their big move for Jeffery Simmons, but they’re still poking around on potentially available cornerbacks, as are the Lions,” Graziano wrote earlier this week. “Detroit might also be in the market for help at linebacker, particularly in the wake of the terrible injury to mainstay Jack Campbell.”
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