The Lions lost one of the best players in franchise history when wide receiver Calvin Johnson retired, but there’s been a lot of confidence coming out of Detroit in the team’s ability to move on without him.
Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford has said he thinks defenses are going to have a harder time with the Lions because the departure of Johnson makes them less predictable. And now Lions tight end Eric Ebron is saying he hopes to help the Lions move on without Megatron.
“It’s football. We’ve got to move on from that. He’s one of the best receivers ever, but we’ve got to move past that and try to do something different without him,” Ebron said on SiriusXM NFL Radio.
Ebron said he views Johnson as a mentor, but he thinks he’s ready to go without Johnson as his coach on the field.
“He’s been with me since I got in the league, a long two years,” Ebron said. “His presence was always there, my big brother I can talk to, and for the team and the organization it was much more than that.”
Ebron hasn’t quite lived up to what the Lions were hoping for when they took him with the 10th overall pick in the 2014 draft. If they really are going to be better without Johnson, they’ll need Ebron to take a step forward in 2016.
