Detroit Lions WR Calvin Johnson Is an Elite NFL Wide Receiver

As everyone knows, not all NFL football analysts are right 100 percent of the time. Even though they are paid as such, these people still make egregious errors and form opinions that make even the rawest of football fans go, "what did he just say?"

Such was the case last week, when ESPN analyst and former Philadelphia Eagles and Minnesota Vikings receiver Cris Carter had this to say regarding Detroit Lions receiver Calvin Johnson (via ESPN NFC North Blog):

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"Calvin Johnson, he's very, very good at Madden and Tecmo Bowl or whatever they're playing now. But on film, when I watch film, and I break down the film, he's not to the point of these guys yet. That doesn't mean he can't play. He just not there yet." 

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ESPN's Mike Greenberg, host of Mike and Mike in the Morning and Carter's interviewer that day, even tried to help Carter backtrack out of the comments by bringing up Detroit's recent history at the quarterback position. Then, Carter had this to say (again, via ESPN NFC North Blog):

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"... We're trying to determine greatness and impact on the NFL game. Calvin Johnson, you don't have to double-team him to take him out of the game. Now, I made eight Pro Bowls. I made it with five different quarterbacks. They weren't always great. So I don't want to hear the excuse that I'm not playing with a great quarterback."

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However, Carter did finally backtrack on his comments Monday, stating he left off Johnson off his improvised list and then tried to fashion reasons for it on the fly. A noble cause, I guess, but Carter was absolutely wrong. 

Johnson belongs on any list of "elite" receivers, no matter which way you slice it up. Even though Carter backtracked on his comments, let's breakdown some of his improvised reasons for keeping Johnson off his list.

On film

Of course, Carter probably just said this to sound more-informed on the subject matter than the caller who put him on the spot. But from any film I've seen on Calvin Johnson, he looks and performs like an elite NFL receiver.

No double-teams

This was the one that was the most far-fetched.

I can think of two teams off the top of my head—the Green Bay Packers and New York Jets—who both have great secondaries with elite-level cornerbacks, and they still double team Johnson every time they play.

And in the Packers case, they still have struggled to slow Johnson. In seven career games against cornerback Charles Woodson and Green Bay, Johnson has 508 yards and eight touchdowns.

Not too shabby for a player that the Packers have consistently double-teamed and made the focus of their defense each and every time they match up.

Quarterbacks

How Carter even tried to rationalize the comparison between his quarterbacks while in the NFL and what Johnson has had to work with is simply laughable.

While Carter worked with established veterans like Warren Moon, Brad Johnson, Daunte Culpepper, Randall Cunningham during the majority of his NFL career, Johnson has caught balls from the likes of Drew Stanton, Dan Orlovsky and Shaun Hill.

And still, Johnson has produced Pro Bowl numbers year-in and year-out.

Carter even brought up Larry Fitzgerald and how he put up good numbers just last year with bad quarterback play. News flash CC, Johnson has been doing that his entire career.

Overall

Judging greatness is a subjective topic and everyone will have their own opinions on it. Judging "eliteness" is even more vague because there's little-to-no set criteria to go off. 

But when you think of those words—great, elite—Johnson comes to mind at the receiver position.

Now, was he disrespected by one of the most productive players at his position in NFL history? Yes. 

But everyone outside of Carter's fantasy world that day knew he was wrong—long before Carter went and backtracked on his comments just three days later.