The Detroit Lions and wide receiver/punt returner Kalif Raymond have agreed to a contract restructuring that has benefits for both parties.
Over his first five seasons as a professional, Raymond bounced around practice squads and active rosters of multiple teams. Then in 2021, he signed with the Lions during this regime's first season in Detroit. Not only was Raymond a staple on offense and special teams, but he received a new two-year contract in 2022. That season, Raymond earned his first All-Pro recognition as a punt returner (second-team), and with it came a new contract extending through the 2025 season.
After earning another second-team All-Pro honor as a punt returner in 2024, Raymond entered the final year of his contract, with a scheduled 2025 salary cap hit of $6.45 million and $3.1 million in guarantees. Raymond’s contract also carried a voided year which was scheduled to add another $1.55 million to the Lions 2026 salary cap.
However, a recent contract renegotiation between the Lions and Raymond has created a new 2025 contract. In the new deal, Raymond takes a pay cut to his overall contract, yet receives a slight pay raise in 2025, along with a significant increase in guaranteed money. Meanwhile, the Lions recoup salary cap space from Raymond’s total contract, the majority of which will be most impactful on the 2026 salary cap.
With help from OverTheCap.com, Spotrac.com, and our past contract breakdowns, Jeremy Reisman and I have been able to track the changes to Raymond’s contract, which will be broken down in the next section. If you prefer to stay out of the weeds of the contract, skip to the final TL:DR section at the end of this piece for a summary.
Kalif Raymond’s new 2025 contract with the Lions
Raymond’s contract is broken down into five sections: Base salary, prorated signing bonus, prorated option bonus, game roster bonus, and workout bonus.
In the new contract, the Lions included a $1.5M prorated restructure bonus, then added $260,000 to his game bonuses and $110,000 to his workout bonus. Additionally, they also pulled Raymond’s voided year dead cap ($1.55M in prorated bonuses) from 2026 into 2025. These moves total $3.42M in new financial additions.
To offset this cost, the Lions reduced Raymond’s base salary from $4.35M to $1.83M, freeing up $2.52M for redistribution. And to even the rest out, Raymond agreed to take a $900,000 pay cut, bringing the contract level.
Why does Raymond make the deal: Guaranteed money doubles
To compensate Raymond for taking a pay cut, the Lions increased the guaranteed money in his contract, which increases the likelihood he will make the active roster, and in turn, will receive his contract in full. In addition to guaranteeing Raymond’s restructuring bonus ($1.5M), they also fully guaranteed his base salary ($1.83M). When this is combined with his already guaranteed signing bonus ($1.55M) and voided year ($1.55M), Raymond now has $6.43M in guarantees for 2025.
Why the Lions make the deal: Free up $1.55M in 2026 salary cap
From a cap perspective, by pulling the voided year forward, the Lions moved $1.55M from 2026 into 2025. However, Raymond’s $900,000 pay cut is removed from that total and his game roster bonus was adjusted saving another $150,000 (he only played in 12 games in 2024, making these funds a “not likely to be earned” incentive). That leaves $500,000 in new money that will be added to Raymond’s cap hit in 2025. In total, the Lions will add $500,000 to the 2025 cap, but remove $1.55M from the 2026 salary cap.
For the visual learners
TL;DR
The Lions restructured Raymond’s existing contract saving between $900,000 and $1.05M, pending “not likely to be earned” bonuses. The maneuvers to make this happen did add $500,000 to this year’s salary cap, however, the Lions were able to remove Raymond’s 2026 voided year, saving $1.55M from next year’s salary cap.
To compensate Raymond, the Lions more than doubled the guaranteed money in his contract, thus basically assuring that he will see the full value of the new deal.
