Calvin Johnson paid back the Detroit Lions a lot more from his signing bonus than originally thought and wrote the team a check for at least $1 million.
According to a person with knowledge of the situation, the franchise's greatest receiver made a payment to the Lions for at least seven figures when he retired in March 2016.
That's significantly more than the $320,000 NFL Players Association records showed Johnson paid, or about 1/10th of the $3.2 million signing bonus proration the Lions would have been entitled to under the league's collective bargaining agreement.
The Lions required Johnson to pay back part of the $16 million signing bonus he earned on the contract he signed in spring 2012.
Lions spokesman Bill Keenist said Wednesday the team had no comment on how much money Johnson has paid back.
Johnson was unavailable for comment.
The only comment the Lions have made about Johnson's contract came in March 2016, when the team said matters related to his contract "were settled to the satisfaction of the parties."
Johnson, 31, told the Free Press on May 20 at his "Catching Dreams" football camp that he wasn't pleased with how the Lions handled his departure.
"I just didn't feel like I was treated the way I should have been treated on the way out," he said. "That's all. I mean, it's all good. I'm not tripping. I don't feel any kind of way, just hey, that's what they did. Hey, it is what is."
The Lions pursued a similar payback when Hall of Fame running back Barry Sanders retired prematurely in 1999.
Lions coach Jim Caldwell said on May 24 the entire organization, from owner Martha Ford and general manager Bob Quin on down, was concerned with the comments Johnson made about his unhappiness.
"I think all of us within the organization," Caldwell said, "top to bottom, Mrs. Ford down through Bob and the Ford children, everybody, we're all concerned anytime we hear one of our alumni aren't happy, particularly with how we feel about our alumni around here."
Caldwell said he texts Johnson often and expected that a dialogue at an undetermined time between the team and Johnson would repair any wounds.
