It is no secret that Detroit Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson is one of the most talented players in football, regardless of position. A once in a generation specimen, he has a combination of size, speed, and aggressiveness that few wide receivers to ever play can match. Simply put, no one with even a basic semblance of football knowledge would ever be caught questioning the talent of Calvin Johnson.

That being said, Johnson has faced a slight decline in his numbers the last two years, finishing 2014 well outside the top ten in yards receiving, touchdowns, and receptions. Meanwhile, many other young receivers like Dez Bryant, Antonio Brown, and Odell Beckham Jr. had massive seasons that seemed to establish their statuses as top receivers in the league.

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Calvin Johnson's Fantasy Football Outlook for 2015

Johnson will be turning 30 in September, and as difficult as it is to even think about, the question must be asked: should Johnson still be considered a top 5 fantasy wide receiver? It’s not a fun question to ask, but it is a necessary one. Too often, lazy, uninformed fantasy owners will draft purely off name recognition instead of any real research or knowledge. This lack of effort tends to result in big name players being overvalued and drafted like a top tier player much longer than they should. One of the easiest ways to have an edge over your fellow owners is to know when a player’s best days are behind him, as to avoid wasting a top pick on a player who has regressed to average level production.

So is Johnson one of these players? Is he no longer the clear-cut top wide receiver in the NFL? Is he even a top five talent? At first glance, it appears that might be the case. Johnson barely crossed 1000 yards last year, something that hardly seems indicative of the best receiver in football. He failed to even catch 75 footballs, more than fifty receptions less than league leader Antonio Brown. The fact is that Calvin Johnson’s 2014 stats were far from spectacular, and they seem to belong to a slightly above average receiver.

While it is true that Johnson’s numbers hardly scream top-level talent receiver, surface level stats rarely tell the whole story. First off, Johnson only played in thirteen games last year, which offers at least a partial explanation of Johnson’s slight set back in numbers. In fact, if you extrapolate the numbers from Calvin Johnson’s thirteen games into a full season, he ends up with 1,300 yards receiving and 10 touchdowns, both of which would land him in the top 10 for receivers.

On top of all of this, saying Johnson played a healthy thirteen games would be an extremely generous statement. Official numbers may state that Johnson only missed three games last year, but anyone who was paying attention knows that Johnson’s entire year was plagued by multiple, nagging injuries. Johnson had two surgeries (one knee, one finger) during the previous offseason, and watching Johnson on game day made it clear that he was still being affected by these two lingering injuries.

Knowing the fact that Johnson spent the entire season constantly hobbled with a bad knee and finger (last time I checked, both are pretty important for a wide receiver), it’s actually pretty remarkable that Johnson was able to put up the numbers that he did. And a deeper look at his numbers still shows a lot to be impressed by, starting with the fact that an injured Johnson was still able to average over 15 yards per reception. Plus when he was healthy, Johnson was still able to put together some spectacular games. His last five games of the season included three games of 100+ yards and two games with multiple touchdowns. A healthy Calvin Johnson is still an amazing player, and has been able to deliver great fantasy numbers for the last eight seasons.

It might be easy for a lot of experts to write off Johnson as he experienced a down season while also heading towards thirty. But anyone who diminishes Johnson does not know his circumstances, and are forgetting how special of a receiver he really is. Sure, other receivers appear to be gaining ground, but there is no question that on draft day Johnson should still be one of the first receivers taken off the board.

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