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Calvin Johnson was easy to spot at Detroit Lions minicamp on Thursday. The Hall of Fame wideout was in town to get things ready for his football camp this weekend, which is being hosted at the Lions training facility.
Johnson has grown his hair a bit and wearing it coiffed up, making him look even taller than in his playing days in Detroit. He was gracious in his time with reporters and in carefully watching the practice. One of the players Johnson was watching, and getting to know, is young wideout Jameson Williams.
It was the first time the two had met. Johnson liked what he saw from Williams, who had a strong but inconsistent overall performance in minicamp.
In a radio interview with 97.1 The Ticket in Detroit, Johnson talked about being a willing mentor for Williams.
“I connected with Jamo yesterday really for the first time, and I look forward to being around and being a shoulder for him to lean on,” Johnson said. “Extremely talented kid. We saw him when he touched the field last year for the first time. So I look forward to just helping him just build a level of consistency and being the pro that he wants to be. Anything I can do to help him, I’ll do that. I’ll be there.”
It can’t hurt for Williams to look to Johnson, who was a speedy marvel in his own right. While we’ve seen progress in Williams’ routes and footwork, the attention to detail and concentration remains very much a work in progress. Johnson can certainly help there.
Then there’s the much-ballyhooed, and dramatically overblown, off-field world of Williams. He’s facing a six-game suspension for violating the NFL’s (archaic) gambling laws, and Jamo’s social media presence has rankled some feathers. Johnson stayed controversy-free and low-key as a Lions legend while he was playing. Perhaps Williams can draw upon that too.