Pro Football Rumors
The Lions will be without their primary punt returner for an extended stretch as a result of a Week 12 injury. They are placing Kalif Raymond on IR, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport notes.
Sustaining a foot injury, Raymond is not expected to miss the rest of the season. The Lions, who have five injury activations remaining, will likely hold one open for their top return man/auxiliary wide receiver moving forward.
A journeyman before coming to Detroit, Raymond was in on the ground floor of Dan Campbell‘s rebuild. The Lions have rostered Raymond since Campbell and GM Brad Holmes arrived in 2021. The veteran wideout has signed three contracts with the team, the most recent a two-year deal worth $10.5MM. That pact runs through the 2025 season.
While Raymond has been one of the NFL’s better punt returners for a while, he has also helped an explosive Lions offense. He has 16 receptions for 204 yards and two touchdowns this season. That came after the 5-foot-8 weapon totaled 489 yards in 2023 and a career-high 616 in 2022. The Lions have turned to Jameson Williams as a regular this season, limiting the opportunities of their tertiary wideouts. Tim Patrick has also become a regular in Ben Johnson‘s offense as well.
Raymond, 30, leads the NFL with 390 punt-return yards; this includes a 90-yard TD against the Titans last month. Raymond initially came over from Tennessee in 2021 and has been the Lions’ top punt-return option since arriving. Amon-Ra St. Brown (two) has the only two non-Raymond punt returns for Detroit this season. Both came after Raymond went down. It will be interesting to see if the Lions continue using their No. 1 receiver in that niche role in a non-emergency circumstance this week.
