Dysfunctional teams do dysfunctional things, and for years the Lions dysfunctioned up their relationship with Hall of Fame receiver Calvin Johnson.
That’s now changing. Johnson credits the improved relationship to one specific front-office employee: Chief Operating Officer Mike Disner.
“I always say Mike Disner’s been a huge part of bringing this thing back together with the team,” Johnson said Sunday, via Eric Woodyard of ESPN.com. “So I’m appreciative of them, appreciative of the whole organization allowing me to have it here and collabing with me in doing that because it’s a heck of an experience for these kids.”
Johnson hosted a high-school football camp at the team’s facility on Sunday, the latest tangible sign of progress between Johnson and the Lions.
For a long time, Johnson made it clear to the Lions that the only way to mend fences was to refund the $1.6 million in signing bonus money that the team recovered from him after he retired. If he hadn’t retired, he most likely would have been released, owing nothing back to the Lions.
Disner joined the Lions in 2019. He spent six seasons before that with the Cardinals.
