In a desperate search for more points and assistance to a defense that’s tired of carrying this team, the Denver Broncos have been searching for a returner who could make a difference, who could impact a game like the Kansas City Chiefs Tyreek Hill did against them Sunday night in Week 12.
When Andy Janovich was lost for the year, the Broncos once again took a chance on a player they took a chance on back in April, promoting Kalif Raymond to the roster this past week in hopes that the speedster could spark the return game. On Sunday in Jacksonville against the Jaguars, Raymond returned four punts for 40 yards with no opportunities on kick returns.
“He gave us some juice,” said head coach Gary Kubiak. “He was the fastest guy on the field; I know that. He looked good throughout the course of the week. He has a couple of things that he has to clean up, decision making for himself, too. The thing that was obvious was when he touched the ball, and we gave him some space, good things happened. I think he had two returns over 10 yards. The penalty added to another one. You have to feel pleased about what we saw.”
“It’s my first time getting into the league,” explained Raymond who was very positive about his outing. “So once you get hit, it’s like ‘OK’ and everything goes away, the butterflies are gone. Let’s just play football at that point. It felt good. I felt like I was used to it. The stage didn’t feel too big, and the team made it easier for me. All that I had to do was read my keys and make sure that everything was right. It made it easy for me.”
Early on, Raymond—as his coach pointed out—seemed a bit regarding his decision making, but as the game went on, he got into a groove, even gaining 22 yards on his longest return of the day.
“An opportunity is an opportunity. I wanted nothing more than to take one back. I wanted nothing more than to contribute on the scoreboard for this team,” said Raymond of his opportunities on kickoffs. “We figured going in that most of them were going to be a touchback. Any opportunity that I can get to take one to the house, I want to take full advantage of. Looking back at it, yes, I wish could have taken a couple out just to see what I could do.”
While it didn’t happen against the Jaguars, Raymond seems to have done enough to have earned another week to see if he can break that elusive big return.
“I’m hungry. I’m very, very hungry,” said Raymond. “I think that hunger from young guys has another spark because we want to go out here and show what we can do. We want to make plays, too, so we get that spark, that hunger, from the young guys.”
With his speed and his desire, Raymond has all the “juice” to spark this team and give an already world-class defense a special teams return game that can be a threat to score points, a potentially devastating combination.
In brief glimpses, the rookie showed the type of tantalizing talent he possesses. In a final stretch that will make or break Denver’s season, a little-known rookie from Holy Cross, standing 5-foot-9 (on a good day) and 160-pounds might just have what it takes to make a difference.
