Calvin Johnson Drops Stunning Truth Bomb About Using Banned Substance Before Games
This article was originally published on Total Pro Sports.
Calvin Johnson smoked marijuana before some of his games, the Detroit Lions legend and Pro Football Hall of Famer revealed.
The 40-year-old Calvin Johnson was never suspended during his illustrious nine-year playing career. In Johnson’s days, the NFL dropped the hammer on players if they were caught with weed in their systems.
Look at former Miami Dolphins star running back Ricky Williams, for example. He was suspended numerous times for smoking marijuana, including a year-long suspension in 2006.
During an appearance on the “St. Brown” podcast hosted by brothers Amon-Ra and Equanimeous St. Brown (h/t Richard Silva of The Detroit News), Calvin Johnson admitted to smoking marijuana before some games.
Aside from never getting caught, Megatron said he always played well when he smoked weed beforehand:
“There’s points in times…I’d be on the way to that stadium, I was like, ‘Man, I don’t know how I’m gonna make it today.’ I probably did it a handful of times throughout my career. The funny thing is more times than not, I had a good game, too. I never had a bad game.”
“I probably did it a handful of times throughout my career. And the funny thing is, more times than not, I had a good game too.”
Calvin Johnson reveals he smoked cannabis during his NFL career, even sometimes before home games, in order to cope with pain that came from playing. pic.twitter.com/b3ir9hl2Zm
— St. Brown Podcast (@StBrownPodcast) January 7, 2026
After starring at Georgia Tech, Johnson was drafted second overall by the Detroit Lions in 2007. The six-time Pro Bowler spent his entire career in Detroit, leading the NFL in receiving yards during the 2011 and 2012 seasons. His 1,964 yards in the latter year are still an NFL record.
Calvin Johnson Retired Abruptly In 2026
Like fellow Lions icon Barry Sanders, Johnson shocked the NFL by deciding to call it quits in the midst of his prime. Despite an excellent 2015 campaign, Johnson retired at the age of 30.
Various injuries and a strained relationship with the Lions’ organization prompted Johnson to retire early. In his final NFL season, Megatron caught 88 passes for 1,214 yards and nine touchdowns.
The Lions went on to make the playoffs in 2016, thanks to the dynamic WR tandem of Golden Tate and Marvin Jones to help Matthew Stafford. But there haven’t been many game-changing playmakers of Johnson’s caliber since his retirement. And there’s no telling what could have been different in Detroit if he played longer.
