ATLANTA _ Barry Sanders and the Detroit Lions were estranged for several years after Sanders abruptly left the NFL in 1999, but the Hall of Fame running back eventually reconciled with the only franchise he played for, and said Friday he expects the same to happen with Calvin Johnson.
"My advice to Calvin, I don't know," Sanders said during an appearance at Super Bowl LIII. "I think we'll always see him as a Lion, so the sooner they can mend it the better. I think most of his fans have great memories of him and, yeah, we just see him as one of us so hopefully, yeah, they can mend things."
After Sanders retired from the NFL on the eve of training camp in 1999, the organization filed a grievance against him to recoup a portion of his signing bonus.
Sanders stayed away from the franchise for years, but slowly returned and in 2017 rejoined the Lions in a paid role as a team ambassador.
Johnson, likewise, was forced to repay a seven-figure portion of his signing bonus when he retired after the 2015 season, and has largely kept his distance from the organization since.
He attended a game this season in a private suite for the first time since his retirement, but months earlier declined to talk about the status of his relationship with the team.
Sanders said, in his case, time healed the feelings he felt at retirement.
"I think it was time, I think it was realizing that, gosh, you grow up a little bit, mature some, which we all do hopefully. So things like that," Sanders said.
While the Lions have made public and private overtures to Johnson to return to the organization, they've yet to retire his No. 81 as the leading receiver in franchise history.
Johnson will be eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2021, so a reconciliation for both sides would make sense before then.
Sanders said he took pride in being a Lion.
"I take pride in the fact that I played there 10 years and that was it, and that's the only place I played," he said. "I mean, I don't know how he feels about that, but for me it's definitely a source of pride."
And no matter how long it takes for Johnson's rift with the Lions to heal, Sanders said Johnson always will be a Lion.
"I saw him at a game last year," Sanders said. "I hadn't really kept up with everything, so I don't know where they are. But I'm sure eventually he'll come around."
