Nicknames have largely become a thing of the past in the sports world, but when Calvin Johnson arrived in the N.F.L. it was clear that he was going to be an exception. Dubbed Megatron by his teammate Roy Williams, he took on a larger-than-life persona as a wide receiver who was bigger, stronger and faster than anyone else on the field, not unlike the Transformers character that inspired the name.
Amid reports that he is planning to retire after just nine seasons in the N.F.L., it appears that Johnson, capable of almost anything on a football field, was far more human than people wanted to admit.