Kalif Raymond is an UDFA out of Holy Cross that played for Denver, Jets and 2 years with the Titans mainly as a returner. Brad Holmes found him and Campbell loved him. He's essentially our 3rd receiver, a slot guy that also has speed to play outside and obviously a great returner. He's called Leaf and much loved by the team and the fans.
@@TwoandAHalfVirgins If you watch the locker room celebration after the game, MCDC sums up the Leaf story. The long story is he almost quit playing when he was either with the Jets or Giants. Went to work to the point of wrecking his body. Had the family supporting him. Even had his wife screaming at him and smacking him with pool noodles to work on his concentration catching and fielding punts. When he was a FA in 2021, Holmes went to MCDC and asked him to watch the tape on Leaf. 10 plays in, he was sold. Leaf has been near or at All Pro in the return game and contributed 30-50 catches and runs on offense every year since. Awesome attitude. Awesome work ethic. Does anything you need him to. ARSB catches 202 balls after practice while Leaf catches 205. Just another great story for a player on the team (Goff, ARSB, and DMo the other two but I'm sure there's more).
The weird thing about the Lions kicker, Jake Bates, is not that he drained long field goals in the UFL. It's that his first ever made FG at any level of football is a 62 yard FG in the UFL. He missed all his FG attempts in high school, and was a kickoff specialist in college.
lmao I swear nobody ever remembers who Brock Wright is until he catches a very crucial 3rd & 4 pass in the flat and turns upfield to get 20 yards on their favorite team
Neat thing about Bates is he played for Arkansas, then played for the Michigan Stallions in UFL where their home games were played at Ford Field. So he's already used to the surroundings and knows he can boot long ones. Campbell trusts him too
I had to see #38 Jake Bates kick in person in the UFL after hearing about the 64 yarder he kicked. I was there when he nailed the double 55 yard plus kicks. Dude has a leg. My LIons be ballin
@ so far he’s been so good and I think if it wasn’t for the UFL, he probably was done trying to make it to the NFL. I always say the greatest football player, basketball player, baseball player, Hockey player probably never even put on a uniform.
@ that’s a pretty chilling thought. And I agree. When you think of the amount of people out there, maybe something is keeping them from playing. Could be themselves or circumstances. And they never even sniff their full potential.
Jared Goff messed up his foot early in the first quarter during a sack so he wasn't playing his best today. But it only looked like he twisted it so he should be fine for the Packers game.
They didn't need Goff in this game ...they have a complete team. They'll need him for the packers Sunday. They literally scored 52 points in 3 qtrs lol
Im glad we beat the vikings before this ass whooping lol or people would make excuses because its who was faced etc.. But we need trade for trey hendrickson at least if the bigger names wont happen.
This was a lowkey worrying game for Lions fans - the score is hiding a lot of problems. Titans got yardage at will (23 first downs) and ran straight through our O-line (4 sacks), and it turns out that starting our fifth & sixth-string edge rushers is becoming a problem. Don’t be fooled - the Lions went 3-and-out multiple times, leaning on Jack Fox to switch the field with mile-long punts. We only got away with this W by having the best Special Teams unit in football, and by having 3X the talent of any other roster in the NFL.
@ Absolutely not, even if they were available (they aren’t). Before we were winning, Dan Campbell said that not everyone can be a Detroit Lion. The owner said she hired our GM specifically because he would prioritize culture. Google who Chris Spielman is - we have someone whose entire job is to cultivate a team identity, that is how serious our front office is about this. There’s a whole list of extremely talented former Lions, like Cam Sutton (facing DV charges), Isiah Buggs (animal cruelty charges), or Ndamukong Suh (fraud, DUI) that we just don’t have room for on a roster with S-tier teammates like Raymond, Monty, and Rodrigo. It’s unusual for us to go out and make major signings like DJ Reader, Marcus Davenport (IR), and Carlton Davis III. Guys have to fit the locker room in addition to having the talent to compliment the roster. I understand that any other team in our position would be offering 12 years worth of draft picks for Crosby or Garrett, but the most Brad-Holmes of moves would be to focus on the players we have (McNeill $97MM extension, Houston activated from practice squad) and then sign some depth (DE Isaiah Thomas) to help out the new starters.
@ The guy who shoved a coach and publicly said he opposed being traded to Detroit? I kinda see the dude with the costumes and actual personality would be a better fit, but that’s just a guess really.
