Future Hall of Famer Richard Sherman spent the prime of his career covering the best wide receivers in the NFL -- and swapped jerseys with many of them to prove it.
On the walls of his home are game-worn threads from the likes of Calvin Johnson, Julio Jones and Antonio Brown and their 20 combined Pro Bowls. While discussing his jersey collection on the most recent episode of his podcast, Sherman called Megatron "honestly, arguably, the best player I’ve ever played against, ever lined up against."
"Your hands are beyond full the entire game when dealing with him because not only can he give you a long day and score points and do all that, but it might likely be an embarrassing play that’s going to live on the internet forever because he’s 6’5 and change, 230 and change, running a 4.2, 4.3," Sherman said. "These sound like video game numbers."
And they often resulted in video game stats, like when Megatron set the NFL's single-season receiving record with 1,964 yards in 2012. Only two teams held Johnson under 50 yards that season, and Sherman and the Seahawks were one of them.
"To have to guard that human being and then to say, 'They’re going to throw it up and usually people triple-team him and he still makes the catch, but we’re just going to have you guard him and then we’ll deal with everybody else,' he was such an incredible player that (defenses) tried to vice him," Sherman said. "Like a punt return vice, on the goal line, in the red zone."
When the Seahawks coaching staff presented that idea to Sherman and fellow cornerback Brandon Browner, Sherman said he and Browner replied, "'Well, y’all take both of us on the field if you do that. Because if I can’t handle him on my own, then I don’t need to be out there. Like, if y’all got to do that, I don’t want to be a part of that. That’s embarrassing and just shameful. He’s a great player, I give him all the credit in the world, but he got to score on me."
In the end, Johnson didn't: Sherman held him to a season-low three catches on eight targets for 46 yards and no touchdowns in a 28-24 win for Seattle.
The duo clashed again three years later on Monday Night Football when Johnson produced seven catches for 56 yards -- more pedestrian numbers by his standards.
Still, Megatron left quite the impression on Sherman, who will one day join him in Canton.
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