Al Davis: Calvin Johnson Hasn't Done 'Anything' for Lions

he fourth-year pro and former No. 2 overall pick out of Georgia Tech, just completed his second 1,000-plus-yard, 12-touchdown season in the league. Beloved by Lions fans and fantasy football enthusiasts worldwide, Johnson has emerged as one of the league's top receivers, a star by anyone's standards.

Well, anyone not named Al Davis.

Davis, owner of the Oakland Raiders and leading curmudgeon of the NFL, spilled his feelings about Johnson in a recent press conference. When asked about the success of the Raiders' two most recent drafts, Davis responded:

I think we've been very successful the last four. I think we're always pretty good. The thing that hurt, is the question someone asked, JaMarcus (Russell) hurt a great deal. But the ones they wanted to take instead of JaMarcus, Brady Quinn, hasn't played yet. There was some talk of Calvin Johnson. But you can take a look at Calvin up at Detroit. How many games did they win this year, Detroit, do you know? Six? Yeah. But up until now, Calvin hadn't done anything for them.

You read that right.

Russell, of course, is widely considered one of the biggest draft busts in NFL history and was out of the NFL in 2010, just four years removed from being picked No. 1 overall by Davis and the Raiders. If anyone should know about a top pick not doing "anything" for an NFL team, it should be Al Davis.

True, Detroit may not have a recent history of winning records, but can that be blamed on Johnson, a player that has scored 33 touchdowns since entering the league? For comparison, Oakland wide receivers have caught 36 touchdown passes combined over the last four seasons. For an even better comparison, Russell threw just 18 touchdowns in his three years in the league.

Was the receiver position one of need for the Raiders on the day they passed on Johnson for Russell? Considering they've drafted seven wide receivers since picking Russell first overall, it sure seems that it was as much of a need then as it still is now.

Enough picking on "Megatron", Al. Joe Thomas was selected third overall; wouldn't it have been nice to take a four-time Pro Bowl left tackle instead of a quarterback that looked like he should be playing left tackle?

Other notable names from the top 15 picks of the 2007 draft include Adrian Peterson, Patrick Willis, Darrelle Revis and Lawrence Timmons.

Let's give Mr. Davis a little credit, though. In the same press conference, the Raiders' owner expressed regret at not drafting Aaron Rodgers, who went 24th overall in the 2005 draft. Oakland had the 23rd pick that season and selected defensive back Fabian Washington; current Raiders quarterback Jason Campbell went 25th to Washington.

Of course, Roddy White was selected by the Atlanta Falcons just a few picks later in 2005 ... but what has he done, right?

R.J. White | Twitter: @RJWhite1

R.J. White has written for Fantasy FanHouse and NFL FanHouse since 2009. He also works as the head writer and head editor at the Fantasy Baseball Cafe and Fantasy Football Cafe, and as the marketing manager and assistant editor at Scene In S.A. magazine.