This season, the Detroit Lions saw many veteran players who had been with the team for several years walk out the door in free agency. It was clear players like Alex Anzalone and Graham Glasgow weren’t like to come back, but for a player like punt returner/wideout Kalif Raymond, it wasn’t as sure.
It turns out the Lions did make an effort to bring back Raymond, but he opted to select the Chicago Bears’ one-year, $3.5 million offer instead.
In a great profile of Raymond by The Athletic Dan Pompei, he revealed that Raymond had several suitors in free agency, including the Seahawks and 49ers. Ultimately, Raymond was deciding between the Lions and Bears, who had “commensurate” offers on the table. It was far from an easy decision for Raymond, who holds a lot of love for the Lions organization and his teammates. He even consulted with Amon-Ra St. Brown before making a decision.
“Trust your gut,” St. Brown told him, via Pompei. “Either way, I love you, man.”
However, it appears the deciding factor with Raymond was opportunity. After drafting St. Brown, Jameson Williams, and Isaac TeSlaa in a matter of five years, Raymond was a distant fourth on Detroit’s depth chart. Whereas the Bears have a young, burgeoning receiver group that needed a savvy veteran. And with Raymond reuniting with his former offensive coordinator in Bears coach Ben Johnson, he knows he’ll be in a place where he’ll be properly utilized.
“The lure to Chicago was opportunity,” Pompei wrote. “The post-Johnson Lions veered to bigger wide receivers and had reduced Raymond’s offensive role. Johnson, however, remembers the wide receiver who was targeted 71 times in 2021 and 64 times in 2022.”
The Lions were able to pivot quite well, however. Detroit ended up signing former Cardinals receiver Greg Dortch to a one-year, $1.4 million deal. Dortch brings both returner ability and a familiarity with new Lions offensive coordinator Drew Petzing.
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