Calvin Johnson has one major regret during his playing days. Junfu Han via Imagn Content Services, LLC

Lions legend Calvin Johnson reveals his major financial regret during his NFL career

Originally posted on Sportsnaut | By Jason Burgos | Last updated 8/19/22

Detroit Lions great and NFL Hall of Famer Calvin Johnson has a major financial regret during his playing days, and that is lending out money to certain people close to him.

Johnson is one of the greatest wide receivers the NFL has ever season. If a football fan were creating a player in the latest "Madden" video game, that player might very well look like Johnson. At 6-foot-5 and over 230 pounds, he had the prototypical build of the perfect receiver. But he was also fast, strong, could run excellent rounds and had exceptional hands.

There was very little Johnson could not do during his nine-year career. In spite of playing his entire career for the Detroit Lions — a franchise long known for its ineffectiveness at winning — the 36-year-old still made six Pro Bowls and earned All-Pro honors on three occasions.

However, as great as he was at catching passes in the NFL, he made several key mistakes during his time as a professional football player. One such mistake he spoke on during a recent appearance on the finances-geared show “In Depth with Graham Bensinger” (h/t Yahoo Sports). While speaking with the host, Johnson admitted that one of his biggest life mistakes was finding out the hard way that lending money to close friends and family often ends up being far more detrimental than helpful.

“You loan money and you think you’re going to get it back, especially [from] people that are close to you, but I would tell anybody now, if you’re loaning money to a friend or anyone close to you, just know that you’re not getting it back. I’ve loaned a lot of money to people and I’ve grown. I’m just like, ‘OK, I know I’m not going to get it back.’ It’s cool with me now, but what that does though is it sours relationships. Money you can always get back, but relationships, you’ve got to cherish those. … Money can easily mess up a relationship.”

During his career, Johnson earned well over $100 million. Luckily for him, those loans gone bad didn’t affect his long-term finances, and he reportedly has a current net worth of $45 million, via Celebrity Net Worth.

This article first appeared on Sportsnaut and was syndicated with permission.

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