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Kalif Raymond 's Skills Suit Bears Fine Even at Exaggerated Speed

The Bears might need to test their speed gauges after their cocking of their return man but they'll still have high hopes for the veteran to produce.
Gene Chamberlain|
Kalif Raymond runs through receiving drills at Bears camp.
Kalif Raymond runs through receiving drills at Bears camp. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

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Chicago Bears

When the Bears have lined up for punt return drills, unlike with kick return it's been a three-man rotation.

The kick return has been a full lineup of players taking turns and it figured to be this way. Josh Blackwell, Zavion Thomas, Kalif Raymond, Scottty Miller, Roschon Johnson, Kaden Davis, Dallis Flowers and Maurice Alexander comprised the lineup doing it, but with punt returns only Raymond, Thomas and Luther Burden III took return opportunities, and one thing stood out there. All three have handled fielding punts effortlessly. In other words, there is no Velus Jones Jr. in the group.

No one is fighting it when they're trying to field the ball, and in recent years this hasn't always been the case for the Bears. Even players they brought in who were said to have sure hands wound up with some issues at times.

Devin Duvernay was one of the more consistent ones last year but didn't quite live up to the breakaway threat for punt returns or crack the top 10. He did make a few big contributions as a kick returner.

Signing Raymond made it clear who would be doing the punt returns, and even though three players are sharing the duties in practices the former Lions return man has captured everyone's attention with his surprising speed. So far that was shown best on pass routes and not returns, as he scored on a bomb and caught a few other passes that he broke. Thomas is a flat-out burner, and was dangerous in college, but may have been a better kick returner than punt returner.

"We all know we got two, a decorated guy in Kalif, all know that, right?" Bears special teams coordinator Richard Hightower said. "But the other guys got to compete their tail off every day, all right. So I'm just looking forward to the competition. You know, it'll sort out. It'll sort out as it goes."

Kalif Raymond's blazing speed

The big problem with Raymond coming to the Bears was his age. Raymond turns 32 in a week. And at 31 last year he had his lowest punt return average since his second year, 2017. The Bears say they see no sign of Raymond slowing and even have seen evidence to the contrary.

"He was the guy running 23 MPH on the other field during OTA's to make sure his stride is right and he's ready to go," pointed out wide receiver Rome Odunze. "Obviously, seeing him and the years he's accumulated, and he's still playing, is very inspiring for all of the young guys."

The Bears probably need to get their GPS tracker fixed if they had Raymond measured in the 23s because NFL Next Gen Stats didn't have any ball carrier measure faster than 22.38 mph during a game last season. Jonathan Taylor was fastest at 22.38.

The fastest Bears ball carrier was Nahshon Wright, with his 74-yard interception return for a touchdown against Minnesota in the opener. He went 21.66. Raymond didn't hit top 20 with Detroit last year and the only Lions ball carrier to do it was Jahmyr Gibbs, who had the second (22.34), third (22.23) and fourth (22.17) fastest times recorded.

Bears could use dependable breakaway threat

The Bears haven't had a return man turn up as one of a season's Next Gen's top 20 times since Tarik Cohen did 21.42 on a 74-yard punt return TD in 2019. Cordarrelle Patterson did turn up one of the fastest times in 2019, second overall at 22.23, but it was on a running play and not a kick return.

Punt returners don't need to be the fastest flat-out runners, though. A few quick steps here and there at the start of a return can turn it into a breakaway and Raymond should be able to produce that.

"I'm gonna tell you the one thing that stands out, obviously, unbelievable player with unbelievable traits," Hightower said. "OK? On the field. Off the field, I give you one nugget that stood out to me. Day one, when he got here, he got here. He came up, he came right to my office, 'Hey, coach, I'm looking for the extra 1% So, how do we do jugs here in pre-practice and post-practice? Can I get with the equipment guy? Can I talk to him about that? And I like to do a lot, a lot more, you know.'

"And certain just little nicks and nacks and secrets and trades. I won't divulge all of them. But just that mindset to come in, all right, and say that I need this because I'm looking for the 1% to get better, alright, is, I mean that's something that obviously you're not into comparisons here, but we all know Devin (Hester) was an elite returner here, right? That's something I had a conversation with Devin about. He used to do that all the time. He'd come in on days off. He'd be on the jugs. He'd be doing the work in the dark that nobody saw, and then you saw what happened when it came to the light. So that's something about Kalif that totally stood out to me that, he wants to make sure he has every opportunity, not for him, but so he can help the team."

At the moment, that's only so much hype. Raymond is 31 this week, and not going to run like Hester. If he's merely better as a punt returner than their last returner named Devin — Duvernay — then everyone should come away happy with the addition to their special teams.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.

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