One of the more quiet departures from the Detroit Lions this offseason was that of wide receiver Kalif Raymond. For the last years, Raymond has been a strong competitor at wide receiver, and also a game-changer on special teams.
Unfortunately for Detroit, he has taken his talents to the Chicago Bears, which has left a gaping hole not only down the depth chart at receiver, but at the return man position as well. For as good as he was catching passes from Jared Goff, Raymond was elite as a return man, which won't be easy to replace on the roster.
This offseason, the Lions added Greg Dortch from the Arizona Cardinals. He will re-join an offense he is familiar with, given Drew Petzing is now Detroit's coordinator. That familiarity should give him a leg-up in terms of the offense. In addition to that, he could provide dynamic returns on special teams.
There are no obvious other candidates on the roster to be a full-time return man right now. DetroitLions.com reporter Tim Twentyman has thrown Tom Kennedy into the mix, but he's been around the team since the Matt Patricia era. If the Lions were going to make him a returner, they would have done it before.
In his career, Dortch has 886 return yards on 99 attempts. He's broken off a long of 49 yards. While he hasn't scored a touchdown, he hasn't been a consistent returner in six years. If given the chance to be full-time, it's clear he could prove himself quickly just like Raymond did in Detroit.
Additionally, Dortch seems like he could be a budding star at receiver. He has 1,310 yards and 10 touchdowns so far in his six year career. That's more of an establishment at the position than Raymond had when he joined the Lions in 2021. He also seems to fit the Lions outlook perfectly.
Rather than use running back Isaiah Pacheco or wideout Amon-Ra St. Brown, both players who will be absolutely vital to the Lions' offense in 2026, the Lions should do the easy thing and give Dortch the opportunity to prove himself as the full-time return man.
Dave Fipp believes Dortch is close to matching Raymond's abilities
The most telling commentary on where the competition stands came earlier this spring from Fipp, Detroit's special teams coach. As Fipp knows, having a player who is purely a special teams ace is tough, because the roster number crunch makes it that teams need to find players that can do more than one thing.
"Obviously to me, the returner is going to be crucial. At that position, those guys are touching the ball quite a bit. Obviously, you want great players back there. I think it's going to help push teams to play guys who might be doing a little bit more on the roster on offense, but they have a value for you field position-wise on special teams, too."
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To this end, he sees Dortch as a very good fit for what the Lions want to do on special teams. He knows he has the goods to do the job, but simply has yet to get a chance to prove himself consistently while in the league.
"Dortch has done it. I don't think he's ever been a full-time, all-the-time guy back there the last couple years. I would say he's probably similar to Kalif (Raymond), right? Kalif did it for us, but in spots, he won back there all the time. Similar body types. You want a guy, in my opinion, who's durable, (who's) going to be able to take some hits. Dortch definitely has done it and has been productive similar to what Kalif has done."
The Lions might give others a look during training camp and the preseason to offer competition and see where they stand, but it's obvious nobody fits the role more than Dortch. He could be the new Raymond given his talent and traits.
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