ALLEN PARK -- Several players on the Detroit Lions roster could be identified as an unsung hero or the most underappreciated.
But does anyone have a bigger claim to that than Kalif Raymond?
Currently in the middle of his fifth season with Detroit, his longest stint of a nine-year career, Raymond has been key to the Lions’ turnaround under Dan Campbell’s coaching. Along with being one of their most reliable receivers during his first few seasons with the team, he’s also become a vital weapon on special teams.
For the past two seasons, Raymond has earned two second-team All-Pro nods for his efforts as a return specialist, even leading the NFL in punt return yards last season despite missing five games.
Through seven games, Raymond has returned 12 punts for 125 yards and one touchdown -- a 65-yarder against the Cleveland Browns.
As the Lions prepare to host the Minnesota Vikings at Ford Field for a Week 9 showdown -- the first of two between the division rivals this season -- MLive caught up with Raymond to break down some nuances to being effective as a punt returner and his most memorable return for a score.
Right now, you’re currently like middle of the pack of the punt return yard leaders. You have already made a house call on one return. What is the key for you to come up with another one?
Just keep going, man. Keep chopping out a block. When they hit, they hit in bunches, and you hope it keeps going. But nah, I just continue to work during practice, just as I’ve been doing. We had a good week, and I’m just hoping at some point—which it already has a little bit—it clicks. But for myself, what I have to do is make sure what I’m doing in practice translates to the games.
What is the key to being an excellent punt returner? I mean, you’re All-Pro. What’s the secret sauce to it?
Personally, I think catching a lot of punts -- a ton of punts, like a bunch of punts. Because in the rest of the game, you get to kind of be yourself. I tell a lot of young guys coming in that I’m trying to catch as many punts as I can, so that part’s out of it.
Now it’s about decision-making, not tracking. So I try to catch as many as I can, and now I’m working on timing, decision-making, which ways to return the units, because I’ve done the hard part so many times already.
How many punts do you field per practice?
It kind of depends. I’ll at least get some after practice, which I generally do. You’ll probably get around 15 a day, and it probably ends up being around 40 to 45 a week -- not including the game.
And then if you get three during the game, that’s like 48. During camp, you try to get at least 20 to 25 a day. So you’re up into the hundreds of punts once the season starts, and by the time the season gets going, you’re well into the hundreds.
Is it hard to track it in bright lights and in various stadiums?
No, it’s just punters are different. You’ve got left-footed, right-footed, and different types of spin. It can come off in all kinds of ways. You catch punts with your feet, not necessarily your eyes. If your feet can get a judge on where it may land based on the spin, you give yourself a real good advantage.
But if you don’t see that many punts, you can’t tell when one might curve back to the right. Little stuff like that. If you catch a bunch of punts, you see all the ways it spins. Your feet can be prepared to move, and once your feet are positioned, you can judge the coverage. Catching off balance takes that away, so it just gives you another advantage.
How quick is that decision-making between knowing when to field it and when to take off?
It’s fast because the ball’s changing mid-flight. You peek down, the gunners could be doing different things, your jammers could be doing different things. The biggest thing is once you make the decision -- good or bad -- you live with it.
Indecisiveness is when it starts to become a bad play. If you make a decision, stick with it, and generally, it’ll work out in a way where you don’t make a mistake that could cost your team. Indecisiveness is where it gets tough. You can come back from losing a couple of yards; you can’t come back from a turnover.
Of all the ones you’ve taken back, which one sticks out to you the most?
Oh man, the one versus the Jets. That was my first one. That one was huge, man, because I hadn’t done it yet. My family was there. I struggled when I played for the Jets, and I’d played in MetLife a few times and never even come close. So to do it in MetLife against the Jets with my family present -- that was very special.
That moment with your wife was a big one, too. I remember seeing that.
It was, man. It was cool just for us to have that moment together. A punt return in the NFL is tough sledding. It takes a lot of work. To get one punt return, you might have to catch two or three thousand punts. It’s a lot of work, but when you do hit the reward, man, it’s a blessing.
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