Latest Step in Raymond's Career Showcased Elite Speed
NASHVILLE – Watch Kalif Raymond on the football field and it is easy to imagine what his childhood was like.
Smallest kid in the neighborhood but the others allowed him to play because he was faster than any of them. Eventually, he built a well-earned reputation as a guy who could outrun anybody around, and that speed kept him one step ahead of the doubters who said he would not succeed each time he moved up a level.
Except that’s not how it was at all.
“I was always like the second or third [fastest],” Raymond recalled this week. “But I was never even labeled like, ‘the fast guy.’ I was a faster guy, but it wasn’t until right after my freshman year in college that I put on like 15 pounds and started running a lot faster.”
Last week, Raymond was the fastest player in the NFL.
According to NextGen Stats, the undersized (he is listed at 5-foot-8, 182 pounds) receiver/returner got to 20.97 miles-per-hour on his 40-yard touchdown reception in the fourth quarter at Indianapolis. That was the top speed by any player at any point in any of the Week 13 contests. Second was Seattle running back Travis Homer, who hit 20.95 mph on a 29-yard touchdown run, followed by Carolina receiver Curtis Samuel at 20.8 mph on a 33-yard touchdown catch.
Next fastest among the Titans was cornerback Tye Smith, who topped out at 20.15 mph during his 63-yard return of a blocked field goal.
The fourth-quarter catch, which sealed the Titans’ 31-17 victory over the Colts (hear him discuss the moment and what he did with the ball in the above video), was his first career touchdown and the latest significant step in a long, slow process that got him to this point. Undrafted out of Holy Cross in 2016, Raymond has been waived nine times, including once this season, and has spent time on the practice squad with four different franchises.
He had one reception in 12 career games over the previous three years. His play against the Colts made it four straight games that he has had at least one catch.
“I’m so happy for Kalif,” quarterback Ryan Tannehill said. “He’s a guy that’s worked extremely hard since the spring. Every day he gives his heart and soul out here, lays it on the line every single day. So, to see him get some opportunities and make some big plays for us, get his first touchdown, get in the end zone in a huge situation for us that was very exciting for me to see.”
It's also something Raymond, who also has been the Titans’ kickoff return man for the past five games, figured would happen, even if things did not happen as fast as he would have liked.
“Patience kind of comes with it,” Raymond said. “It’s natural now because you never know what tomorrow holds. The only thing I know I can do is just keep pushing and come out here and work every day like it’s my last.”
