Calvin Johnson still has big beef with the Detroit Lions ... saying things will remain icey with his former team until they give him back $1.6 MILLION.
The Hall of Famer broke down his feud with his ex-squad while speaking with Graham Bensinger recently ... explaining he's still furious with the Lions over the way they took back some of his signing bonus following his abrupt 2016 retirement.
"I put it like this," Johnson said on "In Depth With Graham Bensinger." "Imagine you had a friend -- well, maybe not even a friend, just somebody. They gave you something and then they take it back. And, then are y'all gonna still really hang out?"
"Are y'all still cool?" Calvin added. "And, imagine you did a whole bunch of work for it, too. It's the principle. It's the principle of it. Like, no, you cannot have me back unless you put that money back in my pocket."
The Lions reportedly recently made an attempt to give Johnson back the cash -- offering him, according to the Detroit Free Press, $500K a year for three years of work with the team, plus a $100K charity donation.
But, Johnson told Bensinger he declined that deal ... calling the offer a "joke."
"I'm not saying they got to repay me the $1.6 all up-front, but they need to figure out a way to do it, and not have me work for it," Johnson said. "Because I already did the work for it."
Calvin -- who played for the Lions from 2007 through 2015 -- said he is hopeful, however, that someday he and the org. can ultimately come to a positive resolution.