San Francisco -- Count Hall of Fame receiver Jerry Rice among the growing list of current and former players who'd be shocked if Calvin Johnson does indeed hang up his cleats and walk away from the game this offseason.
"I just can't believe it," Rice said during a break in interviews on radio row at the Super Bowl.
"It feels like it's surreal, man. Because I'm thinking, okay, at 32, I was just coming into my own."
Johnson is contemplating retirement after a bevy of knee, ankle and finger injuries appear to be catching up with him, despite the fact he's still a force on gameday.
Rice played until he was 42-years-old, which obviously is the exception and not the rule. He had five 1,000-yard seasons after his 32nd birthday, which is just one of the reasons -- besides all the records he holds -- he's considered the greatest of all-time.
But Rice did say he'd commend Johnson for walking away from the game at the age of 30 if his body or his heart wasn't in it anymore.
"You have to look at it (like) the guy can still play," he said. "But if he's on the field and he feels like he can't give 100 percent, he doesn't want to be around."
Johnson is coming off a season in which he caught 77 passes for 1,214 yards and nine touchdowns, his ninth in the league.
"I think he's a great football player and it's unfortunate if he's all banged up with injuries now," Rice said.
"What he was able to do with Detroit – a guy that was 6-foot-4, 240 pounds and could stretch the field. That could strike fear."
Rice will leave it up to the experts to decide what Calvin Johnson's legacy will be if he does in fact call it quits, but he said Johnson has "good" numbers and transcended the position.
"After Randy Moss then all the sudden you had Calvin Johnson," he said. "A guy that was bigger and with speed also."
Is Megatron a Hall of Famer?
"He'd get my vote," Rice said.
