If he unretires the lions will basically be forced to cut him
Originally Posted by: gbguy20
If they couldn't come up with enough cap space, they would be forced to cut
OR trade him.
Teams that could take on that 21 million cap space without any troubles, according to
overthecap.com are 49ers, Browns, Jaguars, Titans, Texans, Buccaneers, Bears, Jets.
If one of them offer a 7th round pick (or even a conditional 7th round pick) then the Lions don't necessary have to cut Johnson. And of these list, the teams that need a WR also really need a QB and aren't going to be winning until soon... with the exception of maybe the Texans.
Some other teams that might be able to take on the 21 million contract with some contract reworking... including Colts, Bengals, Packers, Raiders, Patriots, Dolphins, Cowboys... and stretching it a bit further but Panthers and Steelers.
I'm guessing the Colts, Bengals and Cowboys owners would be very willing to pull the trigger on some sort of deal that got Calvin Johnson in... and Raiders and Panthers could probably find a great spot for him in their systems. Heck the Panthers system would be like he's back in college system but with a much, much better QB.