Time heals all wounds. It wasn't long ago when the Lions' relationship with Hall of Fame receiver Calvin Johnson was rocky to say the least. It was so rocky that the former Lions great wanted nothing to do with the team and we had that weird moment where Johnson attended Raiders training camp in full Raiders garb and every other Raiders fan alive thought he was coming out of retirement. 

Slowly but surely, the relationship started to rebound. Johnson went into the Hall of Fame as a Lion and returned back to ford Field for a halftime celebration. Then he came back once more. Then he came back again and now it's not odd at all to see Johnson attending Lions activities. 

With that said, it's interesting to see how much Calvin Johnson has been seen during offseason activities for the Lions this summer. He popped up at OTAs a few weeks back on Thursday, he was back again for the last day of mandatory mini camp. This time around, he was taking notes. 

#Lions great Calvin Johnson returned to the Allen Park facility today for the final day of Detroit’s mandatory minicamp and was very observant on the sidelines, even taking notes during practice. pic.twitter.com/7V50IBd9eT

— Eric Woodyard (@E_Woodyard) June 8, 2023

Allow me to use my imagination and read into this a little too much: Johnson is one of the greatest receivers to ever play the game. On top of that, he's one of the more level-headed players to ever play the game. He would be perfect for a mentorship role – especially for a relatively young receiving corps in Detroit.

Specifically for Jameson Williams. 

Interesting enough, Lions head coach Dan Campbell was asked about Williams having a mentor on Wednesday. 

“Well, I think – absolutely, as I do all young players. And I think we’re set up that way. I think that everything that we have, all the resources we have in this building, on top of the veterans we have in the room that we have, really on the team, the coaching staff, so I think we’re set up that way and absolutely I think he can benefit from that." Campbell said. "We want to help any player that we have come in. That’s what it’s about. It’s not always going to be perfect. There’s always a transition. It’s different than college. Every guy grows up in a different environment, different college program, so as fast as you can get them up to speed with how we do things, help him along, so yeah absolutely he can benefit.”

Campbell went on to talk about the type of leadership in the building that Williams can go to. He talked about guys like receivers coach, and former NFL receiver, Antwan Randle-El, offensive coordinator Ben Johnson and Lions co-director of Player Engagement, Jessica Gray, to name a few. 

While Randle-El can certainly offer up mentorship on what it's like to be a receiver in the NFL, he can't offer up what Johnson can, and that's what's it's like to be a highly touted receiver that has to deal with the pressures of being selected at the top of the draft.

There's a lot of woes that can come along with something liek that and Johnson could certainly give all kinds of advice as a guy who overcame a lot of the woes. 

While I think that a lot of the stuff with Williams is overblown and I've recently been vocal about that, I can admit that he is behind the eight ball a bit after coming into the league fresh off an ACL injury and then garnering a six game suspension after the NGL found that he was gambling on non NFL games in an NFL facility. 

He has looked really good as a player in OTA's and mandatory mini camp. So at least that part of things seems to be on the up and up. I'm not saying that Johnson needs to follow him around like a shadow, but having a big brother type guy around that you can bounce things off can only help for such a young player. The good news is that you can get bonus mentoring for other young receivers like Antione Green or even Amon-Ra St. Brown. 

Featured image via Kirthmon F. Dozier -USA TODAY Sports