Calvin Johnson Quotes

When you play trying to avoid injuries, that's when you get hurt.

I think the one thing I can say is not to play through concussions. I think that's unwise.

I'm an athlete, so I'm very interested in making the sport as safe as possible - just for my own career longevity.

Player safety has been an essential focus for us for a number of years.

We don't want our players getting hurt.

Sometimes, it's just unfortunate you get injured in the game. But you can definitely take strides to prevent those things.

I definitely find myself, as I get older, a lot more aware and concerned with the health of the sport.

No matter how badly you play, you want to come out healthy.

I consider myself to be one of the really, really fortunate ones to have gotten out of the game as healthy as I did.

How can you train if you're constantly worried about getting injured?

Injuries are a part and parcel of a player's career.

Even wrestling, now, I wear the helmet all the time. I'm not going to make that mistake again ever in my life.

Head and neck injuries are what parents thinking about letting their children play tackle football should be thinking about, talking about, and demanding answers about, from any coach presenting himself as a worthy custodian for their child's introduction to tackle football.

I can't criticize an athlete if they say they're injured.

Not a lot of people or pros in this game know how to train correctly. That's why they don't have a long career. Their body gets banged up. They get into a rhythm of heavy sparring and heavy work, but through that, they're limiting movement.

If you look at the top 100 players, you would see that the great majority of them have had at least a couple of surgeries. That tells me that we have to protect the players.

I've dealt with a lot of injuries over the years, and you just learn about pain management and how to keep yourself in the best shape to play on Sunday, and then playing with pain.

Since 2000, it's been a privilege and honor for me to be on the competition committee. And our main focus... is player safety.

It's tough to play well - or not that well - when you're injured.

I try to encourage all my teammates, and I sure hope that some day all athletes - my kids, high school kids - get the same level of care I get. Because you can play for a long period of time without having knee replacements, without having all the major head trauma that people are dealing with.

I haven't been injured at all. It's just one of those things which does happen in football.

I just want to make sports safe for our kids.

Little injuries are always happening, so you've just got to train through those. You've also got to have the right training partners, people you trust.

It's lucky I haven't been in a bad tackle. I could be prepared, but if my body gets wrenched in the wrong way, I can't help that.

You're never going to go through a season with no injuries.