BIOGRAPHY
Kalif Raymond was born on August 8th, 1994, in Lawrenceville, Georgia. He plays wide receiver in the NFL.
In his early years, Raymond attended Greater Atlanta Christian High School where he served as team captain during senior year. He finished his high school career, recording 30 receptions for 511 yards and nine touchdowns. He was also a member of the varsity track and wrestling teams where he was the 2009 Area champion and 2008 County champion in wrestling and was a member of the 4x100-meter relay team that set a school record with a time of 42.92 seconds in 2011.
After he finished high school, Raymond committed to the University of Holy Cross where as a freshman in 2012, he played in 10 games on the year, mostly as a kickoff and punt returner, recording 32 kickoffs for 777 yards and a touchdown on the year, in addition to bringing back 19 punts for 101 yards. He led the Patriot League in kickoff returns while standing seventh in punt returns and eighth in all-purpose yards, was placed second on the school single-season list for kickoff return yards and was ranked 35th in the nation in kickoff returns and 51st in punt returns. Raymond was also named Patriot League Rookie of the Week after the Harvard game, for returning eight kickoffs for 156 yards and two punts for 35 yards and was placed third and eighth on the Holy Cross single-game list for kickoff return yards, with his games against Colgate with 178 yards and Harvard with 156 yards. By the end of his freshman season, Raymon was selected first-team All-Patriot League, was chosen to the New England Football Writers All-Star team, earned All-Eastern College Athletic Conference honors and was named to the College Sports Journal National All-Freshman team. As a sophomore in 2013, Raymond played in 10 games at wide receiver, starting five times, ranking third on the team with 42 receptions for 400 yards and three touchdowns, while rushing 16 times for 67 yards and a score. He also led the team with 26 kickoff returns for 548 yards, in addition to returning nine punts for 32 yards, was placed sixth on the school single-season list for kickoff returns and seventh for kickoff return yards, and ranked sixth in the Patriot League in kickoff return average and all-purpose yards, and ninth in receptions. He finished the season with a team-best 1,047 all-purpose yards and in the 72nd place in the nation in all-purpose yards and 77th in kickoff return average. In his junior season in 2014, Raymond started the first nine games of the season at wide receiver where he stood third on the team with 39 catches for 305 yards and two scores. He also totaled 149 yards on eight kickoff returns, 121 yards on 13 punt returns and 16 yards on six rushing attempts. Raymond ranked third in the Patriot League in punt returns, eighth in catches and finished the season 24th in the nation in punt returns and 92nd in receptions.
After he graduated from college, Raymond entered the 2016 NFL Draft where he was signed by the Denver Broncos as an undrafted free agent on May 3rd. He was later released by the team on September 3rd, during the final roster cuts and on December 2nd he was promoted back to the active roster. On September 2nd, 2017, Raymond was released by the Denver Broncos and was claimed off waivers by the New York Jets on September 3rd. On September 10th against the Buffalo Bills, Raymond made his NFL debut where he returned a kickoff and a punt. On September 19th he was waived by the New York Jets and was re-signed to the practice squad but was later released by the team on September 26th. On October 11th, Raymond was signed to the New York Giants practice squad. He was released on October 31st but was re-signed the next day and was promoted to the active roster on November 14th. On September 1st, 2018, he was released by the New York Giants and on September 25th he was signed to the Tennessee Titans practice squad. He was released on October 2nd and on October 16th he was signed by the New York Giants but was released on October 18th. On December 24th he was signed by the Tennessee Titans and signed a reserve/future contract on December 31st. He was waived by the Tennessee Titans on September 7th, 2019, but was re-signed to the practice squad.
On October 3, 2021, Raymond scored two touchdowns in a 24-14 loss to the Chicago Bears. On March 18, 2022, Raymond signed a two-year, $9.5 million contract extension with the Lions. On December 18, 2022, Raymond ran 47 yards for his first career punt-return touchdown in a 20-17 win against his former team, the New York Jets. On August 11, 2023, Raymond signed a two-year contract extension with the Lions.
