The Detroit Lions had a worst-case scenario ending in a 29-24 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday night. Amon-Ra St. Brown had the worst penalty of the season, an offensive interference call, which led to a catch that then resulted in a Jared Goff lateral and a touchdown, but ultimately took it all away in one fell swoop.
It wasn't all bad in Week 16, though. There were several silver linings.
One was Kalif Raymond, who, despite not being what he used to be when he arrived in the Motor City, still showed against the Steelers that he can be situationally useful.
Raymond had four first-down catches in five targets, including a 27-yard touchdown catch in the fourth quarter that gave the Lions a legitimate chance to win the game at the end of regulation. In a season, nay, three years, of Raymond being underutilized -- he has not been targeted 45 times since his career-best 2022 season -- it was nice to see him featured in what should have been a win.
Well, featured relative to the looks he's been getting, anyway. Every receiver benefited from Detroit trailing by two scores in the second half and needing Jared Goff to gunsling his way back into the game. Running back Jahmyr Gibbs received the most targets (13), with Jameson Williams (nine), St. Brown (nine), and Isaac TeSlaa (seven) all seeing their fair share of balls thrown in their direction as well.
Raymond's production dictated that he was their WR3, just as he was during his first three years with the team. Raymond lost his footing in Ben Johnson's offense in 2023 and 2024, and it's clear that John Morton and Dan Campbell's offense has nothing for him.
Too Little Too Late For Lions With Kalif Raymond?
Five years is a long time with one franchise. The Lions are the only team Raymond has committed himself to this long in his career, having previously been on the Tennessee Titans for two years, splitting the 2018 season on the Titans and New York Giants practice squads, splitting 2017 between the Giants and New York Jets, and his rookie season on the Denver Broncos.
The undrafted free agent has done well to ride it out in Detroit for so long, but with the coaching staff likely losing both coordinators and change sweeping the franchise, long-established veterans who regressed as the years have gone by are probably the first to go.
Raymond may want to leave, anyway, so a mutual parting of ways could make sense.