{"id":551340,"date":"2026-03-28T23:50:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T23:50:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/551340\/"},"modified":"2026-03-28T23:50:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T23:50:07","slug":"kalif-raymond-i-chose-bears-over-lions-to-play-in-ben-johnsons-offense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/551340\/","title":{"rendered":"Kalif Raymond: I chose Bears over Lions to play in Ben Johnson&#8217;s offense"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Wide receiver Kalif Raymond\u2019s choice about where to play in 2026 came down to a pair of familiar options. <\/p>\n<p>Raymond fielded offers from teams like the Seahawks and 49ers in free agency this month, but he whittled his choices down to a pair of NFC North teams. There was a chance to return to the Lions for a sixth season and an opportunity to rejoin a former coach in Chicago. Raymond opted for the chance to play for Bears head coach Ben Johnson, who had been the offensive coordinator in Detroit before leaving for their divisional rivals in 2025. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/7140741\/2026\/03\/26\/kalif-raymond-bears-lions-family\/?unlocked_article_code=1.WFA.7-9i.YKelL1hHYyne&amp;source=athletic_user_shared_gift_article_copylink&amp;smid=url-share-ta\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">wanted to play<\/a> in Ben\u2019s offense,\u201d Raymond said, via Dan Pompei of TheAthletic.com. \u201cHe\u2019s extraordinarily creative, and honestly, you can be in any spot on the offense, and he will find a way to get you the ball. Just to be under him is a great privilege.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Johnson said he likes Raymond as a veteran presence in a receiving corps topped by young players Rome Odunze and Lester Burden. He also thinks the wideout is \u201ccapable of a bigger role in our offense than what he had\u201d with the Lions last season, so the choice to move to a new city could result in a higher profile along with a change in uniform.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wide receiver Kalif Raymond\u2019s choice about where to play in 2026 came down to a pair of familiar&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":551341,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[349,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-551340","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-nfl","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=551340"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551340\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/551341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=551340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=551340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=551340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}