Wide receiver Kalif Raymond has spent the last five NFL seasons with the Detroit Lions, but Bears head coach Ben Johnson played a major factor in the veteran's decision to leave Detroit.
Kalif Raymond called Detroit home for the last five years. The veteran wide receiver joined the Lions' organization in 2021 after bouncing around several NFL franchises.
After going undrafted out of Holy Cross, he had brief stints with the Broncos, Jets and Giants and landed in Tennessee for two seasons. Then the 5-foot-8, 180-pound receiver made it to Detroit and had the best seasons of his career.
Raymond caught just 18 passes for 357 yards and one touchdown from 2016 through 2020. His first year with the Lions eclipsed all his previous production. In 16 games, Raymond caught 48 passes for 576 yards and four touchdowns.
A big reason for the resurgence was because of opportunity and Ben Johnson, who, at the time, was the passing game coordinator when Raymond joined the organization and later became the offensive coordinator from 2022-24.
When Johnson first called plays for the Lions, Raymond set a career-high in receiving yards (616). The Bears' head coach played a major factor in Raymond leaving Detroit in free agency to become a part of Chicago's organization.
The Athletic's Dan Pompei wrote an in-depth feature on Raymond and why Johnson wanted to add the veteran wide receiver to his team. To start, the Bears weren't the only team interested in Raymond.
The Seahawks and 49ers also had interest. Of course, so did the Lions. And Pompei wrote that Raymond's former team "made a commensurate offer to the one he accepted from the Bears."
When it was time for Raymond to make a decision on where he would play for the 2026 season, the veteran wide receiver reached out to fellow teammate Amon-Ra St. Brown.
"Trust your gut," St. Brown told him, via Pompei. "Either way, I love you, man."
With so much time spent in the Lions organization and having individual and team success, what was the deciding factor for Raymond to leave Detroit to join Chicago?
It was what allowed him to have success in the first place in Detroit: opportunity and Johnson.
“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 Bears have two young receivers at the top of the depth chart in Rome Odunze and Luther Burden III, but Raymond's experience and previous production with Johnson make him the clear candidate to become the No. 3 in Chicago's offense.
It's only been one season for Johnson as a head coach, but the Bears are already reaping the benefits of having an offensive-minded coach with a track record of success. Raymond is now a Bear, and the organization is better a team come because of the acquisition.