Past Performance

I can already see the sarcastic look on your face as you begin to read this. Probably thinking something as simple as “no shit” or “why the hell do we need an article about a good player being good”. The snarkiest of the bunch will probably comment something to the effect of: “Wow armchair guy you are doing some real groundbreaking work here saying that Calvin Johnson is good!!” or my personal favorite (just kidding) will utter “so brave”.

Well to you guys in advance I just want to say; how many of you have ever taken Calvin Johnson with the very first pick of your draft? What about just with a first round pick in general? I’m sure some have, but I know that number isn’t as high as it should be. And if you (like me) have been one of the players have passed on Calvin in the first round before, then you passed on a chance at grabbing something special, and I mean truly special. Calvin to me is the best active player at his position in the NFL right now, and I think he has a real shot at ending his career as the great receiver the game has seen to date. And yes, we passed on him to draft C.J. Spiller.

How Good is he?

To be honest, the idea for this blog came to me recently when I was having a conversation with a fellow league mate. He drafted Calvin last year, and was upset that he owned him in what he thought was a “down year” by his standards. Well for those of you that had your head in the sand, Calvin Johnson had the most receiving yards EVER last season despite having only found the end zone 5 times. Now is my friend an idiot? Do you disagree with him? I don’t blame you. The point is that if there is one single person on this earth that can consider a record breaking season from a player a “down year” then he is a player you don’t come across very often.

2014 Draft and Beyond

If you have read any of my column before, you know what I say about a successful fantasy player. They need to be a three-headed beast to be a stud. A sort of tripod if you will. This is a combination of three factors: skill, situation, and health, and here is where my argument comes in as to why Megatron is the single best fantasy option (and safest #1 draft pick) in football today. Is there any guy in the NFL who is more of a guarantee for these three aspects of the game? I will answer that for you myself, and it’s a big fat no.

Skill: Nobody will argue with you that Calvin Johnson won’t be exceptionally skilled until the day he retires so I will keep this short add a nice little photo instead.

Situation: There are other guys that have a lot of talent besides Megatron that aren’t going anywhere so this is where he starts to seperate himself from the pack. First of all, Matt Stafford has a cannon where his arm should be. Second of all, Stafford’s main gameplan is “hey let me bomb this one to my boy Calvin in the endzone, even though he is double covered”. His coach, quarterback, and teammates know that he is the guy in that offense so he is a lock for multiple scoring opportunities every single game (excluding snow hurricanes). The best thing is how teams are gaming against him recently. So many defenses have seen doubling Calvin fail to stop him, that they are just treating him like any other receiver, and choosing to shut down the rest of the Detroit offense instead. Although this may work to win an NFL game, Calvin owners should rejoice, because there isn’t a man alive today that can shut him down one on one for a whole game.

Health: This one I will never pretend to predict, and I hope nobody else does either. In today’s game anyone can take a hit and be day to day with a concussion for the whole season. A guy can rocket himself into their knees and there goes the season. But just giving it an eyeball test, guys that have an injury history seem to be pretty consistent with it. For my first round pick, I want someone that has as clear of a medical bill as I can find in this violent game. How does a guy that has NEVER started less than 14 games in a season sound? Pretty good to me.

Poor Matt Elam

Normally if I hear a guy trash talking one of my favorite players I will think “Hey fuck that dude”. But in Elam’s case I actually kind of feel bad. He has no chance. The poor little guy is toast and it is finished before it even got started. Maybe he legitimately thinks Calvin is “old” because of the fact he towers over him physically and is more mentally composed. Either way I am going to start writing his obituary now.