{"id":840383,"date":"2026-03-29T05:35:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-29T05:35:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/840383\/"},"modified":"2026-03-29T05:35:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T05:35:13","slug":"turns-out-kalif-raymond-intentionally-turned-down-lions-to-join-the-bears-heres-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/840383\/","title":{"rendered":"Turns Out Kalif Raymond Intentionally Turned Down Lions To Join The Bears \u2014 Here’s Why"},"content":{"rendered":"

For almost a month now, the running narrative around Kalif Raymond signing with the Chicago Bears<\/a> was that he\u2019d been allowed to leave by Detroit. They had other plans at wide receiver and no longer needed him. The truth, as always, is far different. It turns out the Lions were more than eager to bring the wide receiver back. They deeply valued him in the locker room as a leader, on offense as a blocker, and as a dangerous punt returner. Coaches and teammates alike wanted him back.<\/p>\n

There was one problem. The Bears were also interested. They\u2019d just traded D.J. Moore and lost Olamide Zaccheaus to free agency. They needed depth behind Rome Odunze and Luther Burden. Not only that, but Raymond had sensed a shift in Detroit\u2019s offensive philosophy last year. According to Dan Pompei, he normally would\u2019ve chosen to stay with the Lions. However, he felt his opportunities to play wouldn\u2019t have been nearly as high. That would be a different case in Chicago.<\/p>\n

The Seahawks and 49ers were also in pursuit, but his choice came down to the Lions and Bears. Raymond\u2019s feelings for Campbell, the organization and the community ran deep, and the pull to stay was powerful\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2026The lure to Chicago was opportunity. The post-Johnson Lions veered to bigger wide receivers and had reduced Raymond\u2019s offensive role. Johnson, however, remembers the wide receiver who was targeted 71 times in 2021 and 64 times in 2022.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs he going to be a 1,000-yard receiver?\u201d Johnson says. \u201cNo. But I think he\u2019s capable of a bigger role in our offense than what he had a year ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

Raymond is counting on it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to play in Ben\u2019s offense,\u201d he says. \u201cHe\u2019s extraordinarily creative, and honestly, you can be in any spot on the offense, and he will find a way to get you the ball. Just to be under him is a great privilege.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kalif Raymond proved how far Ben Johnson\u2019s reputation goes.<\/p>\n

In 90% of cases like his, he would\u2019ve stayed put. Detroit is still a good team filled with players and coaches he knows well. He would go unchallenged as the primary punt returner and almost certainly have a place as a blocker in the run game. Yet it\u2019s important to remember he is still a wide receiver. He wants to catch passes like his idol Steve Smith did for so many years. It just wasn\u2019t going to happen with the Lions, who have St. Brown, Jameson Williams, and Isaac Tesla.<\/p>\n

Coach Johnson doesn\u2019t care about size. He\u2019s more interested in route-running, blocking willingness\/skill, and whether you can catch passes. Raymond checked those boxes during their time together between 2022 and 2024. Zacchaeus got plenty of opportunities last season. He just failed to take advantage. If Raymond gets around the same number, he\u2019ll have a chance to put up some serious stats. The fact it will have come at the expense of the Lions will be a mere icing on the cake.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udd25 Subscribe to the Untold Chicago YouTube channel<\/a> to hear Chicago legends tell stories you\u2019ve never seen in headlines \u2014 real moments, real experiences, straight from the athletes themselves.<\/p>\n

Raymond brings a lot to the table.<\/p>\n

It might be clich\u00e9, but the NFL has long been a league that finds great value in grizzled veterans joining young up-and-coming teams. It was Jack Reynolds joining the San Francisco 49ers in 1981. It was Charles Haley being traded to the Dallas Cowboys in 1992 and LeGarrette Blount signing with Philadelphia in 2017. Kalif Raymond isn\u2019t at the same level as those players, but that doesn\u2019t mean his influence won\u2019t be felt. His ability to push and connect with teammates is well-documented.<\/p>\n

He works hard and plays harder. You\u2019ll often find that competitive athletes feed off of energy like that. It was why Johnson wanted to bring him in. The head coach felt that too many of his young players didn\u2019t grasp the sense of purpose required to compete for a championship. Raymond will set about changing that. Anybody who may not have understood the sacrifices required will soon enough. Those who continue resisting the change will soon find themselves elsewhere.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For almost a month now, the running narrative around Kalif Raymond signing with the Chicago Bears was that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":840384,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2070],"tags":[374,692,391,2493,7,6282,6],"class_list":["post-840383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago-bears","tag-bears","tag-chicago","tag-chicago-bears","tag-chicagobears","tag-football","tag-kalif-raymond","tag-nfl"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116310843384598137","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=840383"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840383\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/840384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=840383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=840383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=840383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}