6 free agents the Vikings should already be thinking about for 2021
By Adam Patrick
Kalif Raymond – WR/PR
Vikings fans should be familiar with Kalif Raymond since he’s the guy who hauled in three passes for 118 yards during Minnesota’s loss to the Tennessee Titans back in Week 3.
Despite Raymond’s impressive performance against the Vikings though, he’s only managed to accumulate six catches for 69 yards during the Titans’ other eight games this season.
At 5-foot-8 and 182 pounds, he’s not exactly the prototypical size for an NFL receiver. But Raymond has 4.4 speed that allows him to get open deep down the field.
Minnesota receivers Justin Jefferson and Adam Thielen are capable of getting open deep. Adding someone like Raymond though would allow Jefferson and Thielen to focus more on the intermediate and short routes that they excel at.
Think of when the Vikings had Aldrick Robinson on their roster in 2018. Robinson never really played more than 25 percent of Minnesota’s offensive snaps when he appeared in a game, but he still managed to find the end zone five times during the 2018 season.
Of those five touchdowns, four of them saw Robinson travel at least 15 yards down the field. Raymond has the potential to fill a similar role for the Vikings in 2021.
As a bonus, Raymond is also a talented punt returner. So at the very least, he could fill that role for Minnesota if he ended up being added to the roster next year.