The foot injury suffered by Lions wide receiver and punt returner Kalif Raymond in the Week 12 win over the Colts is going to land the veteran on Detroit’s injured reserve. That’s per a report from Ian Rapoport, one which jibes with what Lions head coach Dan Campbell has talked about in regards to Raymond’s injury status.
This comes a day after Campbell noted that the team was waiting for a second opinion on Raymond and his injured foot. Raymond was carted off from the sidelines after falling awkwardly on a punt return inside Lucas Oil Field on Sunday.
Rapoport notes that Raymond could return before the end of the regular season and the injury is not considered to be season-ending.
Who replaces Raymond on punt returns?
Amon-Ra St. Brown took over as the punt returner in Raymond’s absence. After initially stating that St. Brown wasn’t going to return punts against the Chicago Bears on Thanksgiving, Campbell subsequently brought up that it could be St. Brown,
“Yeah, we are. I’m still trying to think about that because part of me says let’s just use (St. Brown) Saint again because he is the most reliable, so we may just do that. You know what, we’re going to do that. We’re going to do that.”
The Lions do have other options, including rookie RB Sione Vaki, CB Khalil Dorsey, RB Craig Reynolds and the option of using practice squad WR Maurice Alexander, who could also fill Raymond’s role as a depth wide receiver.