Just looking into his career history and it really made me fall in love with the guy. He had one career reception his first three years, and 20 by the end of year five. Signed as a returner, the next two years in Detroit he has 48 and 47 receptions, finally establishing himself as a genuine WR3 or WR4 in his sixth and seventh years in the league.
That’s really quite incredible IMO.
2016 - undrafted, spent most of the year on the Broncos practice squad, activated for 4 games where he had 17 kick/punt returns for 248 yards. 0 receptions.
2017 - cut by the Broncos, he spent time with the Jets and Giants, playing a total of 8 games with 32 kick / punt returns for 370 yards. 1 reception for 12 yards.
2018 - bounced between the Giants and Titans practice squads but was never promoted to the active roster for either team. 0 receptions. I think he could quite easily have quit football at this point.
2019 - spent the early part of the season on the Titans practice squad before being activated in week 10. Logged 22 kick / punt returns for 448 yards. 10 receptions for 215 yards with 2 TDs across the regular and post season
2020 - on the Titans active roster for the whole season, put up 483 yards on 38 kick / punt returns. 9 receptions for 187 yards
2021 - with the Lions he has 21 punt returns (no kick returns) for 236 yards. But in a struggling offense with very little WR talent he puts up 576 yards on 48 receptions with 4 TDs. In one year he has almost 2.5 times the number of receptions he had in his first five years combined!
2022 - Holmes gives him a two-year deal and gets the same reward. On 22 kick / punt returns he logs 329 yards with 1 TD, and has 616 yards on 47 receptions
What a great find by Brad Holmes. What a great job of sticking at it by Kalif Raymond. And what a great job of coaching and having faith in him to play offense by Dan Campbell. I really hope there’s room for him on the roster this year, he really seems like he’s cut from the right kind of cloth.