Kalif Raymond had a nice season for the Lions, and with that he has boosted his personal bottom line rather nicely.
After a season where he stepped into a bigger offensive role fairly unexpectedly in 2021, Lions wide receiver Kalif Raymond set a career-high for receiving yards this year (616), while falling just one catch shy of his 2021 total (47).
Of course Raymond was also one of the best punt returners in the NFL this year, averaging the second-most yards per return (13.2) along with a touchdown. For that prowess as a return man he has earned AP Second Team All-Pro and Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA) All-NFC team honors.
While detailes varied in some cases depending on the source, Raymond was among the Lions players with contract incentives to watch heading into the season finale against the Packers. It seemed he had some money already locked in, but he may have ultimately maxed out all his incentives, etc.
Kalif Raymond earned a nice chunk of extra change this year
On Friday morning EnterSports Management, Raymond’s agency, tweeted about him.
So proud of #kalifraymond earning ALL PRO HONORS! #hardworkpaysoff
— EnterSports Management (@EnterSportsMgmt) January 27, 2023
All the hard work earned him over $1 MILLION in incentives/escalators! 💰💰💰💰💰💰
Keep doing ur thing! #TeamESM @Lions @GACFootball @DLFPtweets @PrideOfDetroit @NFLPA @NFL @HCrossFB
……more to come!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/exA1yBHECC
In late December, Albert Breer of SI.com reported Raymond’s contract incentives like this.
"Lions WR Kalif Raymond gets $250,000 each for 50 catches, 600 receiving yards and five touchdown catches. He’s at 40, 510 and zero in those categories. He also gets $150,000 for 300 punt-return yards (he’s at 248) and $25,000 for every punt return touchdown."
Raymond fell just short of 50 catches (47) and 300 punt return yards (264), but he topped 600 receiving yards and had that one punt return score. Based on Breer’s numbers, that put him at $275,000 in pure statistical incentives.
Being named NFC Special Teams Player of the Week in Week 15 surely trigged some kind of bonus for Raymond. Earning the aforementioned honors from the AP and the PFWA surely added more bonus money too. Combined the three, and the gap between $275,000 and more than $1 million in total extra money may be entirely bridged.
Raymond made $1.3 million in base salary this season, with prorated signing bonus and a workout bonus still leaving him shy of $2 million in total compensation. So over a million extra via incentives and escalators is more than a drop in the bucket as a percentage of his base pay, and a nice reward for a sneaky really good season.