Reggie Wayne refused to work out for the Lions when he was a free agent: 'You the Detroit Lions'
Haven’t Detroit Lions fans been through enough, Reggie Wayne?
They saw Barry Sanders retire right before breaking Walter Payton’s career rushing record, in part because he was sick of losing. Calvin Johnson played in only two playoff games and lost them both before he retired in his prime. Detroit has won one playoff game since 1957 and hasn’t won a division title since 1993.
Wayne knew all of this when he was a free agent at the end of his career. The Lions were interested in signing Wayne, but wanted him to work out first.
Wayne worked out for the New England Patriots. But not the Lions.
As he said, “You the Detroit Lions.”
Ouch.
Reggie Wayne, not a fan of the Lions
Wayne, an all-time great receiver with the Indianapolis Colts, was a free agent after 14 seasons. He was talking about that 2015 offseason with NFL Network host Dan Hellie on the “Hellipod” podcast when he said the Lions were interested.
“I said, ‘Work out? You the Detroit Lions. Wait. Work out? I’m good.' Like, I can give you — I got 14 years of working out that you can see,” Wayne said, via the Detroit Free Press. “So I was like, ‘Nah, I’m cool.’”
Maybe Wayne felt he didn’t need to work out for any team after all those great Colts seasons? Not exactly, since he did it when the Patriots called.
“Before I get there, Bill Belichick says, ‘Hey, Reg. You got to work out,’” Wayne told Hellie. “So I said, ‘All right. You Bill Belichick, all right, I’ll work out for you. Y’all New England. OK, I’ll work out for New England.’
As if the Lions needed to hear that.
Wayne got to keep Patriots’ signing bonus
Wayne signed with the Patriots, and then realized before the season he didn’t want to play anymore. Wayne said Belichick let him keep his $450,000 signing bonus, even though Wayne said he offered to give it back.
“He told me to keep it. And that was love, man,” Wayne said, via the Free Press. “And I always had respect for him. I’ve heard people and seen stuff that he’s done on camera of his respect for me, and maybe that was just his sign of appreciation. We had a lot of battles against that team, so he told me to keep it. We kept it in the bank. I appreciate it. Hey, the best job ever.”
The Free Press pointed out in the story that when Johnson, one of the greatest players in franchise history, retired the Lions forced him to repay a prorated part of his signing bonus. Johnson repaid $1.6 million and still remains upset about it.
Sometimes reputations are earned. You the Detroit Lions.
More from Yahoo Sports:
