DETROIT — Kalif Raymond went to Holy Cross, a school that has never produced an NFL draft pick. He still made it to the league, but was cut coming out of his rookie camp with the Denver Broncos. He went to the New York Jets, then was cut there as well. Twice. In the same week.

Raymond understands. He missed two fumbles in his first game with the Jets, then lost a fumble in the next. So he moved across town to the Giants, where he was cut again. Twice. Then he went to Tennessee, and was cut there too before the week was over. It came back in circles for Raymond, who lost his job nine times in less than four years in the league.

Then Brad Holmes and Dan Campbell took over in Detroit in 2021. They were tasked with rebuilding one of the worst teams in the league, and Holmes saw something everyone else had missed in the 5-foot speedster 8 inches. He walked into Campbell’s office a few weeks into his job, a fresh coat of paint barely dry on the walls.

“We were fresh on the job,” Campbell recalled, “and (Holmes) said, ‘Hey, take a look at this guy from Tennessee. It’s really a comeback, a sort of gimmick. Do you think there is a place for him in attack?

“I looked at about 10 plays and was like, ‘Yeah. There absolutely are, you know? Take this guy in a heartbeat.

Four years later, Raymond is still here, now one of the heartbeats of one of the league’s rising powers, and has made his former team pay for his abandonment – ​​twice – by racking up 202 total yards and two touchdowns in a 52-14 contest. against the Titans at Ford Field. He returned a punt 64 yards to set up a touchdown, then made a visit to the house on a 90-yard strike coming out of halftime – the second longest in franchise history – before to add a 7-yard score a few minutes later.

What a story.

What a team.

“I tell guys all the time, ‘Go talk to Leaf,’” Campbell said. “Some of these young people say to me: ‘You want to know the reality of this league? Go talk to him. It will give you some perspective. We have a few guys that way. So, you never know. You don’t know, what will it take? Why did things happen? And there are a lot of things that come into play. It could be due to circumstances, it could be that the coaching staff just doesn’t see the value in him, it could be that he’s too small. It could be, “Well, it’s just a return. » It could be: “Well, at that point he wasn’t playing with confidence. “And I’m using that as an example, but there are so many factors that come into play.

“I know this: Everything for him has been perfect, and it’s been the right mix and the environment has been great. And he’s been exceptional, thanks to his level of confidence and everything he brings to us as a player. But he really is, he is everything. I can sit here and talk all day about Leaf, what a stud he is. But he’s just one of those guys. He’s one of those guys.

Of course.

The Lions are built on decades of adversity, and they’ve rebuilt themselves around guys who are no strangers to those fires. Guys like Amon-Ra St. Brown, who had to listen to 16 receivers get called before Detroit finally stopped its slide on the final day of the 2021 draft. Guys like Brian Branch, who may have suffered the biggest slide of any draft day last year. Guys like Jared Goff, who transformed the football more than anyone in the league in his last two years with the Rams. LA practically begged Detroit to get rid of this guy, offering them two first-round picks and a third-round pick for Matthew Stafford.

Now, St. Brown is a reigning All-Pro team, Branch appears to be on the right track as well, Goff is the hottest quarterback in the league, and those are huge reasons why the Lions (6 -1) are gone. their best start since 1956.

The same goes for Raymond, whose struggles ran so deep that he once wondered if he was done with professional football. By the time he landed in Detroit, he had almost as many removals (nine) as receptions (19). Things got so dire at one point that he asked his mother to make him pool noodles while he was fucking punts in the yard during the offseason.

He was just watching video of those practices Saturday night.

“Oh my God, I was struggling,” Raymond said. “I had a lot of fear, a lot of doubts. I remember walking off the field, I mean I was playing for the Giants, and I was like, “I played my last game in the NFL.” I actually said that to myself in my head.

“I had a choice during this time, this offseason. I said to myself: “Either you go in the tank and you stop. Or I can give everything I have. That summer ended up being the same with my mom and the noodles. I trained so hard.

This is still the case. Even if St. Brown catches 202 passes after each practice, Raymond could work even longer and harder. He’s the last player off the field almost every day in training camp. His work ethic is so exemplary that the Lions are telling their younger players to watch what Leaf does, and do it.

The Lions want to be the most coached team in the league, and relying on guys like Raymond has set the tone. Now he has blossomed, becoming an All-Pro return man in his second year in Detroit and filling a vital do-it-all role as a backup receiver. And on a day when the Lions’ No. 1 receiver was held to 7 yards and the No. 2 receiver was suspended, Raymond tore up his former team for 202 yards and two touchdowns, a remarkable effort in the offense. by 52 points.

No one – not even Raymond – could have predicted this four years ago. Nobody, except Brad Holmes and Dan Campbell. They’ve rebuilt this team into one of the richest in the league, and now that they’re suffering from devastating attrition – particularly on the defensive end – they continue to display their incredible depth while winning five games consecutive and climbing to the top of the rankings. the best division in the league. Guys that no one else wanted or passed on. Guys like Kalif Raymond, who tore up his former team for 190 yards on five punt returns, just 17 yards short of the NFL’s all-time record.

Raymond received a game ball for his efforts, as did his special teams coordinator, then wandered into an annals white cinder block room at Ford Field to speak with reporters. He had a bag with a long strip of medical tape tied to it. In black ink, someone had written: “You’re a badass. »

Nowadays, the Lions have a lot of guys like that.

“I think you have a room full of high-character guys who have faced adversity at some point in their careers,” Raymond said. “And when you have guys who work that hard and care that much and have that much character, you don’t go into weak thinking. You are not entitled to anything. You work like that.

Nowadays, no matter the adversity, they also play like this.

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