Kalif Raymond CREATES CLARITY At WR/ Brandin Cooks Lite? Holmes Team-Building STRATEGY

what is up everybody welcome back to another video and in today's video we are back with another Detroit Lions breakdown video and today we're going to be diving a little bit deeper into this receiver discussion and specifically talking about a player that may be one of the most overlooked players heading into the season so let's get it started welcome everybody to video glad you guys are here and yes we're back with another breakdown video for the Lions now this one again isn't going to be exactly the same as some of our specific Prospect breakdown videos but there will be similarities to that there will be some similar things that we do we'll show some clips we'll talk about some different traits for this specific player but I wanted to expand this discussion this feels like a great point to pick up where we left off when we spoke about James Williams and him being in line for his breakout season this upcoming season and where he needs to improve and now we're continuing to get the quotes from the Lions we see the clips from many Camp we see Jameson Williams it makes a ton of sense that there is a clear opportunity for James Williams to just become that guy within this Lions offense and one word that we're going to use throughout this show probably a lot later but it's clarity now there's not necessarily CL in the sense that we know exactly what everybody brings to the table there's a lot of unknowns there but where the Lions do have Clarity specifically in this receiver room is the opportunities to step into specific large roles within this offense for guys like Jameson Williams are right there for the taking it's not someone standing in his way that feels kind of awkward like how is he going to get his snaps then this guy's also going to get his snaps like the opportunity is right there we know where guys can plug in and play their big roles it's just about doing it it's just about actually executing that so there is Clarity in that sense and I think that makes this video make a lot of sense today because the guy that we're going to be talking about is a guy that really I feel like we haven't given much discussion to whatsoever going back to his extension and this was a guy that got an extension while he was under contract with the Lions he's now under contract through 2025 and when you're looking at this receiver room most of our guys are not under contract beyond the season unless they're under a rookie deal outside of now Aman rain Brown just don't seem to talk about him very much and that is khif Raymond and today I thought it'd be a good opportunity to dive into what khif Raymond can bring to the table for the Lions but also how it creates Clarity within this Lions offense and this receiver room of what the expectations are but where the opportunities also lie now I'm going to go a little out of order here because just just feels right to start with this so I'm going to pull this back a little bit let's go back to the LA Rams days when Jared golf was with the Rams we're going to go 2018 2019 now I've definitely ref referenced these years many times before so you may know where I'm going with this okay while so Brad Holmes was there as well but I think that this is a great starting point to just look at how the Lions have kind of built out this offense and what we're seeing take place here with how Brad Holmes is investing and putting together this Lions offense and the pieces that he's putting around now his quarterback that has officially been paid congratulations Jared GF well deserved happy to see it but now it's about okay building around this guy now that he's been paid which he's been paid on the last couple years I don't want to make it sound like oh he's finally getting paid how's it going to work now he was getting paid a lot last year but a lot of people r on a high cap hit that you can win with the guy on a high cap hit that's not what this is for though the point is he's getting paid now he's your guy for sure going forward we know that he's been our guy but now it's about building around that and I think what we've seen from Brad Holmes is some real experience with Jared go understanding exactly how he wants to put this thing together and having a really good sense of if we have these pieces golf will be successful if we don't have these pieces golf can still be successful and I think that's where we're kind of seeing take place so I go back to 2018 and I'm going to use this comparison to say that these guys are the same or I'm expecting this kind of season out of kie framan but I do think that's interesting just in terms of the build I think a lot of times we think about vertical threats we talk about jamus Williams a little bit of Antoine green and we always compare I always compare him to guys like Brandon Cooks CU like hey that was a vertical threat with the LA Rams but it just terms of build like the way that he's put together kie frayman a lot of similarities there in terms a build in terms of testing scores coming out for the draft this obviously kly freman undrafted out of Holy Cross a little bit different for Brandon Cooks but there's a lot of similarities there just in terms of how they are built and also some of the ways that Kye framan wins within this offense similar to how Brandon Cooks won with the LA Rams I think that he'll necessarily have the diversity that Brandon Cooks had within that offense at its peak I don't think he'll necessarily be able to put up those kind of numbers in this offense unless something crazy happened I don't think that will be the case and I think Brandon Cooks in some areas is just a deeper player like he does certain things just better than klie frem we'll talk about that a little bit more but I start here first because going back to the first year Brad Holmes was here and the Lions decided hey in a receiver room that's completely depleted and it was and then obviously we got Josh Reynolds throughout the year helped a ton we needed it they went offensive line with their top pick now it could be just as simple as hey they thought he was the best player just that simple but they did go offensive line with that pick and they waited till round four to eventually get the receiver and Aman rossin Brown we fast forward to this off season and we're coming in and it's hard to distinguish the needs because the lions are a well-built roster and it's like man they kind of don't necessarily need anything they feel pretty good everywhere but I personally had receiver very high maybe no one else did I had it very high on this I thought man if there is a place that feels like a need just because we're The rosters hat it's probably going to be receiver for the Lions because Josh Reynolds is not coming back and for the Lions they said no we're going to draft zero receivers now they brought in some udfas that I like they brought in some other free agents like trequan Smith Fountain guys I think are interesting but instead of drafting a receiver which could have like made it so okay you know that guy's making the roster like gave you a little bit more of that sense instead the lion said let's draft two offensive linemen they took two offensive lineman they traded a future third to get an offensive lineman that's a project then they also drafted Christian mahogany at the end of the draft so they drafted two offensive linemen instead so this has continued to be kind of the way that Brad Holmes put this together is clearly valuing we have to be able to protect golf that's first and foremost you protect him he's going to have a chance that goes away doesn't really matter what you have on the outside I think we have a great representation of this just by looking back at those years Rams now different circumstances across the board and a lot of again cap hits are set up by timing when is this guy getting paid when is his cap number rise is there flexibility can we drop it it's all about timing within working kind of the salary cap number rookie deals versus non- rookie deals that being said though if you go back to ell Rams 2018 when they were 13-3 and Brandon Cooks cooked within that offense he was massive him and Robert Woods 80 receptions 1,200 yards he was awesome within that offense and then you moved to 2019 where things just completely fell apart 32 receptions just over 500 yards receiving things just fell apart they went N9 and seven That season you ask yourself what happened big thing for me offensively and again there's a lot of factors to this their offensive line fell apart all right this was the 31st ranked offensive line that season by Pro Football Focus it fell apart they had some injuries but that was the biggest thing even though G's time to throw sped up that season his pressure weight also went up that season and we can also say we saw this in 2021 when Taylor Decker was out it changed everything our offense just looked completely different when you didn't have time in the pocket so we saw that just basically having the offensive line fall apart even though you had all these weapons the offense as well essentially just fell apart they also lost kind of their run game a little bit as well but that was the big difference then you also start to look at that room and the weapons that they had and you got to the point where it almost felt like in a way it was like okay maybe we're just doing too much here and they ultimately had to trade away Brandon Cook so they went from signing him to a 5year $80 million deal to trading him away to the Houston Texans and having to eat some pretty big dead cap after making that trade yet you look at the receiver room and the year before they had Cooper cup but Cooper cup had only played in Eight Games so he wasn't really that due within the offense he had 40 receptions in 2018 and leading the way instead was Robert Woods and it was Brandon Cooks in their big roles also in 2019 had an explosion of Tyler higgy offensively he became a massive part of that offense and all of a sudden now not only as their offensive line falling apart the intended air yards has also dropped for Jared G because now he's getting less time to pocket he's throwing getting the ball out quicker but his pressure rate still going up you also have the aspect of you also had just a ton of weapons the point where when the trade was made one of the points that was brought up is that the LA Rams has shown even more success out of 12 Personnel but when you put two tight ends on the field now of a sudden this team that was really known for the 11 personnel meaning three receivers on the field all of a sudden having more success out of 12 Personnel limit to receivers to now a two on the field now you had a room of Cooper cup Robert Woods and Brandon Cooks someone's got to be on the sideline there so now you just had so many weapons to the point where it's was like maybe we just have too much at this position so instead of maybe having more Investments on the offensive line where it could have necessarily like with injuries popping up maybe that helps you instead you get to the point where you have so many weapons the offensive line falls apart but you can't actually use every single weapon because now the offensive Line's pulling back it actually hurts the weapons around you and now you just have too much to the point where it almost feels like it's overcrowded and all of a sudden a guy that you're paying big money at the time you weren't paying Cooper cup they had a lot of different Financial situations they had the Jaylen Ramsey Edition as well we're in a different spot in a lot of different ways we could have afforded a receiver for a one-year deal and we can do that still going forward did to clear clap space and they just had a lot of pieces at one position and now instead what we saw from the alliance of season instead of just drafting a receiver in this year's draft they went out and actually drafted a guy that's going to transition to running back who I believe has a really strong pass game impact if you go check out that video one of my highest grades definitely go check that out and I think it also opens up the flexibility of a guy like jir Gibbs who the lions are talking about again and you see it I didn't realize how much this was until now I'm actually looking for the amount of games that he's actually lining up at receiver almost every game that I went through at least once jir GS lined up at receiver and running receiver routes like that's a huge impact again I thought it would be massive coming out of the draft saw it less this past season statistically but you do see it if you just look at the way that he lines up he does line at receiver plus when we're talking about flexibility I feel like I always often Overlook like the tight end position where games like a Chicago where the Lions ran a lot of 13 Personnel meaning three tight ends on the field one running back on the field that changes everything as well Lions paid Rock right obviously we're going to have leaport and James Mitchell as well with Shane ziler potentially that's a loaded tight end room as well so we also have to take that into account instead of actually going with a guy that's a pure receiver went with another guy that can make plays out the back field win level one potentially show some flexibility but he's going to be transitioned to the running back position you just start right there with the clarity that I think that Brad Holmes has in a way kind of created within this room again it doesn't mean that can't add somebody to this as someone becomes available that they really like they're financially in a spot where they can do it but the clarity is there in this sense who did we not see in the playoffs this past year well we didn't see Donan PE Jones who the Lions traded for him when they traded for him they said it was going to be for depth they resigned him after only seeing really just flashes at most during the the regular season you could also look at what he did in the past the the clarity lines have created is to me this you know who the number one is he's going to eat up the receptions that's how going around St Brown he's the number one inside outside he's that guy he's kind of like the Cooper Cup right that's what it feels like with the other r cuz when Cooper cup emerged Brandon Cooks kind of pulled back within that offense he is that guy for us then it's hopefully Jameson Williams he's going to be that number two now different stylistically than Robert Woods and maybe even Brandon Cooks in some ways there's different stylistically different build but he's going to be that number two that's the vision he's the guy that di state coverage he's the guy that's going to have this breakout season the path is clear for him to become that guy and it has always been that way right remember the first year when we drafted James Williams it was DJ CH and then it was Josh renolds he had really a mix it was like okay who's going to get on the field here it's like how do we find spots for all three of these guys at the end of the season was hard to find getting all these guys on the field that Clarity is there hey J Mo this is your role to step into we use the first round pick on you we're going to give you that opportunity we believed in you and that's one thing Brad has done is like hey if he buys into the guy he's not just going to put someone on top of that player because we haven't seen it yet if he believes that it's there he's going to give you an opportunity to step into that role and now the receiver three you could say is Sam leapa you could say is jir Gibbs but it's also the aspect of now it's a kind of a match of different skill sets down the pupil Jones who's hopefully going to bring some of that element of what Josh Reynolds brought to the table it's klie fremond it's Antoine green just in different skill sets and we'll talk about him more specifically in comparison to Josh Reynolds but the clarity is there for the Lions where are the targets going to go if all goes right the vision is hey we paid St Brown down the road will pay jamus Williams even though he's still under his rookie deal down the road will pay Jameson Williams and then the offensive line as of now where you've invested heavily meaning that the Lions have the sixth highest capit this season to the offensive line versus 26th highest to the receiver room obviously that's going to change because c s Brown's cap number really hasn't kicked in yet once it does it's going to change everything but that if you compare it to say the LA Rams for example who in 2019 were spending $31 million on their offense line versus 26 million which was the six tiest at receiver in 2019 and again that thing just kind of fell apart so instead the lions are on the opposite path which is following more so offensive line first now that may change in terms of spending because when St Brown gets paid that's going to change a little bit but then the offset in a perfect world will be hey you're no longer now paying these guards like Kevin zitler now all of a sudden it becomes maybe it's the mahoganies May the Manus that become those guys and maybe Graham glasow goes the center or maybe you draft a new center if not Manu playing tackle I think there's a ro in which potentially Kobe Soro could play tackle once again like we saw a little bit last year and maybe that pushes Su and finds a replacement at tackle then you're paying pen Su he's the one guy that's getting paid maybe at that point that's when you give your high investment to a potential new left tackle right maybe Taylor Decker just gets resigned on that so you can see the clarity for not only the vision right now and like where the opport unities are but it's also clearity the sense that the long-term goal is very clear it's easy path to follow of how this thing is going to look over the next few seasons if everything goes right and these guys live up to what they believe they can be instead of necessarily doing it through trade like you could say the LA Rams did the Lions instead just did it through the draft with Jameson Williams I don't want to go too specifically into names to be like this guy's going to get resigned and this is the future because there's a lot of these guys that just still need to prove it like they're going to have their opportunities they need to prove it but that's a key part and we'll talk about that however I think if you just ask yourself how the lions are going to handle this situation which in a lot of ways is kind of an unknown because this is the first time we're going to see a brad Holmes draft CL become free agents and he's going to have to make decisions on his guys he knows he's told us the whole time as the plan is to draft develop resign his guys and that sounds great but man you can't resign everybody especially with how well they draft so many of these guys are performing well it's like well we can't pay everybody that comes back to the timing aspect but I think what it's going to look like and this just a prediction it's going to look very similar to what we saw this offseason in free agency which is and I guess we've seen it for a couple years the lions are going to be stingy in terms of who are they going to get big money to the guys that have earned the big money it's clear there's no questions I'm and Ross St Brown P Su they're going to get big money they've earned it already can't just be solid for the Lions and maybe not show necessarily Improvement through years and kind of like you've stalled out to a point where you're like yeah you're a solid player but we're going to play you pay you really good money because it's an extension and the salary Cap's going up it won't be just enough and I think here's the key for that for the Lions the reason that works is because the lions are giving their guys opportunities like we just go through the Lions draft classes just go through the you know going back to 2021 go each year how many of those guys haven't gotten an opportunity season after season after season to prove themselves now I'd go back to 2021 and say man i' like to see some more Jamar Jefferson personally but if you do look at that entire draft class I mean even Jamar Jefferson sticks around they've all gotten opportunities like Levi where maybe it was like last year we're saying well okay maybe you move off him like you could have just got off the guy or you could have added someone had just put him right in front of the player and you could have been like I don't really know where the Levi rolles then you move on but the Lions haven't done that because they believe in their draft piics they believe in their Investments and they believe that those are going to become the guys similar to this one situation here with Jameson Williams and we'll talk more later in this video about why Kylie framan is actually the perfect free agent addition to the receiver room for the Lions or someone to extend because he allows that opportunity to be created but adds tons of flexibility we'll talk about that in comparison to a guy like Josh Reynolds but it's similar to what the Lions do really with every draft pi you're going to get an opportunity and you're going to stick around you're going to continue to get those opportunities because we believe in you there's a reason that we invested in you we can kind of see that with like guys like Mosley down people's Jones especially Mosley because we didn't see him at all they resigned him after having signed him but they didn't see anything it was simply based on like the way they scouted him as free agent they liked him enough to bring him back again after seeing nothing coming off an injury that being said if you just go through each draft class 2021 all these guys are getting opportunities to play year after year after year they're getting opportunities to prove themselves 2022 you're getting opportunities to prove your of all of those players in that draft class I mean you think about that first draft Derek Barnes like this offseason could the Lions have went out they had the money if they would have went outside a guy that I lik Andrew van GLE and it was like okay even if they keep around James Houston who continues to get opportunity right it's right there for him James Houston has a role but if they could have signed a guy like that said you know what Derek Barnes we like you we don't necessarily love you necessarily at that point maybe we don't love you there we feel like we get a little potential upgrade we'll give a bigger deal to this guy and then it's like what do we do exactly with Derek Barnes because he showed that he could play that Sam r a little bit there and then with James Houston it's like how does this all work out now you might have an odd man out Lions didn't do that they said no we believe in those guys start to find a roll he's picked up he's gotten better and better he's continuing to improve we're going to leave that door open for you to play you're going to continue to improve within this team and because the Lions have done that year after year when that time comes to become a free agent and your four years are up it's not it shouldn't be too much of an issue of outside of being injured like every single season well the guy didn't really have a chance to prove himself so we don't really know because we kind of moved off it quick or we put this guy in front of him and he'll never get a chance to play the one guy you could try to point to there is like broadrick Martin because brck Martin now behind DJ reer DJ reader I mean brck Martin did play a little bit last year but they expected it was going to be developmental but even still like next season he's going to rotate it's not like rer is going to play every single play when he's out there he should be ready by training camp it sounds like some point during training camp it sounds like the year after that even if rer sticks around Alliance keep him through the second year of his deal again you could keep bradic Martins going to mix in he'll probably see an expanded role but he's going to have an opportunity and Alliance because they continue to allow that opportunity to take place there isn't I don't think it's going to be extremely difficult for them to make those tough decisions it'll be hey did the guy improve did he actually earn this money and if it's like ah kind of here and there they're not going to pay the guy that's my assumption they just those be like okay we're not going to pay him we'll take another draft pick we'll draft the position again and we'll go out there in frency we'll sign someone that can kind of like fill in plug a hole for us there we'll continue to follow this process they're just going to have to become very stingy and very it's going to make it very difficult like you got to you got to play at this level now the floor has raised as the lion say and I think over the years we've seen that I mean you go back to the TJ hackinson trade and specifically to this video when they trade away TJ Hockinson obviously the salary cap was a part of that we knew he was going to get paid big money and he was good with the Lions I don't think he was great with the Lions necessarily he was good with the Lions so I think that was just a big thing in general but not even go down that path once he was traded away it was Dan Campbell who specifically spoke on had to feel good about more touches going to other positions because they knew how much production TJ hakins had brought at the time and he felt good with that between KH Josh reyolds he started naming receivers then he named running backs getting extra touches then the other tight ends of course so that's something that we're also seeing now where the Lions also aren't so into like Hey Okay Wow we lost Josh Reynolds we have to get a re receiver to replace that directly instead they have been open to saying well the running backs can do it too like that's part of their game the tight end we can be adapt we'll be adaptable offensively we don't have to play the same offense every year we'll play a little bit different Personnel schematically we'll change up we'll get the best players on the field if that's two tight ends and two backs the best players will be on the field and that's how we'll do it but I think that's what we'll see we're seeing with a guy like Jameson now just in one specific picture is the opportunity is there and because the Lions believe in him we saw Improvement last year they're leaving that opportunity the door open and say go take it man go take it prove yourself for the next couple Seasons we'll pay you your money if you earn that big money and we'll go from there the one that you can argue really didn't get a huge opportunity was Chase Lucas which was always kind of I mean he played in the preseason but really didn't get much of a chance in the regular season but I think also letting him go was him getting an opportunity with San bran elsewhere after load up on quarterback this offseason I think the most interesting one though on this list is M Rodriguez in the willingness to say okay we have other linebackers stepping into larger roles what about trying fullback and N Lions no longer having Jason abinda I mean I think he could be the fullback this season being willing to be open to finding a way to give these guys opportunities it also to me a way should lower the risk of we're not necessarily just signing you on projection we've seen it we've given you that chance it shouldn't be a projection because you draft so well it works and it will just have to be stingy elsewhere but the L are making it simple I think in that case and I think that's what's going to lead to long-term successes because they draft so well this would all fall apart if you didn't draft well if you didn't draft well love what Lions do in frency I absolutely love it but you're not necessarily looking for like the big difference makers in frency consistently though I think they found some this year specifically in guys like DJ reader and Carlton Davis through a trade but because they're not actually giving out all those huge deals to guys that have already proven it if you couldn't draft leaving these guys stick keeping these guys around to improve and you know continue to have that opportunity and believe leaving in your coaching staff to develop these guys things would probably fall apart pretty quickly because it'd be like yeah this is not going anywhere our team is just getting worse instead because the Lions have drafted so well and their coaches are getting out of them and they invest so heavily in the coaching staff and I have the best defensive line coach in football in Williams now all of a sudden it makes this possible what the lions are doing from a long-term approach and again to continue back we're going to get to it khif Raymond is actually the perfect receiver as an extension for leaving that opportunity but also still adding a ton of value to the lion I went back and I watched klie framan from the last three seasons specifically the past two seasons not as much 2021 uh because I didn't get the all 22 version of that but I did go back and I watched from the last season since Kylie framan went through multiple games just to get a sense of what he's brought to the table whether or not he's actually getting the football because early with Kye freman I had thought that man this is easily the best separator line have just pure separator receiver he was the best one I think at this point that's am ran Brown clearly but Kylie Fram and I always thought was a big time separator and that opinion really hasn't necessarily changed now in terms of the ways separates best I think I have a better sense of that what route Tre that fits and maybe that continues to expand because I do think ki's gotten better number one just in terms of catching the football in general right three drops 2021 last two seasons according to PFF he's had one combined now he hasn't always pulled the ball down in all consist contest situations but in terms of just pure like Focus drops those that pulled back specifically for Kye fremond I think he's gotten better in certain areas within this Lions offense he's also got an opportunity here that he really didn't get before he got to the Lions then statistically speaking when you see his numbers in terms of just pass rting when targeted is really strong over the past three seasons with Jared G usually when the ball is thrown his Direction good things are going to happen is what that means now a sample size isn't always massive but when the ball usually goes way usually good things are going to happen we know that he lacks a little bit of radius but it's still a very high catch rate when the ball is thrown his way I think really the biggest question that can be brought up when we talk about kie fremond and obviously this is two-way street so it's not perfectly Fair because we did hear Brad say that this was the guy that they wanted back which was Josh Reynolds but it just terms of getting paid klie frayman was extended a deal that runs through 2025 and it's $5.25 million per season with his capit jumping this next season in 2025 so two years $10.5 million was his extension Josh Reynolds is actually making less than that on his new deal with the Denver Broncos which even speaks to it a little bit more because kli Raymond when he got paid the salary cap obviously was a year out so it was a whole different salary cap situation as well so you kind of expect maybe Josh's to be higher but it's not two-way street so it's not necessarily fair to do that but I think that's the one argument that can be made here maybe against kif fremond based on where the lions are at situationally right now however when we start to kind of dive into kif frame we go through some of the notes some of the things that I saw when watching the player I think going back to that Brandon Cooks point the areas that he was most successful with in that LA Rams offense in terms of the route tree that he had the most success is a lot of ways when you watch K ramond you see a lot of the same kind of success and you look at it pass rating wise his three highest pass ratings wi targeted in 2018 from Jared G was post routes Corner routes and Screen routes all of those routes we know that Kye framan has been huge on number one I'm going to show you a lot of Clips he is a dynamic post route Runner level three post routes he consistently separates now he may not always have the catch radius where it's like easy to connect on those but he separates consistently vertically over the top which I think again back to the point of making the argument for the kly freman versus Josh Reynolds where he adds a lot of benefit to me like building the sense of if you didn't have St Brown for a game he could kick in at slot and he'd be fine he can handle slot responsibilities perfectly fine he has the quickness to do it he has the skill set he has the reactive hands and he has some run after catch toughness he's a big time blocker like a big time blocker and he's reliable with the football so he can step into that role but he also brings that vertical element where if you don't have Jameson for a game you still get that vertical speed which was something the Lions have actually pointed to in the past with which Al J will will kind of just use khie in that role plus he's also a punt returner who's been a really good pun returner for the Lions and you could also argue that he's shown growth really every season even though the this past year again uh it was kind of a little bit of a step back statistically and we didn't see him in the playoffs either but he has shown I think growth just in general since he's got here with the Lions so I do think there's strong arguments to say that it makes sense that the Lions paid Kylie freman kind of put a bow on the whole Brandon Cooks thing 39.5% of his targets with Jared G were 20 plus air yards now that didn't mean that everything was a shot play because it wasn't I say shot play in terms of you're thinking like a seven step drop heave there was a few of those but they weren't all of them majority of them were the quick play action golf hit is back and it's a post route it's just going to hit 20 yards in the air it was a deep out route in a lot or comeback route or a deep curl in a lot of the areas that you see kie fremond and actually if you look at klie fremond again statistically speaking here and you look at kie fremond according to PFF his success on 20 plus yard passes for example this past season he had five receptions on those throws with again a stat line that dropped he only had 35 receptions five receptions on seven targets for 145 yards on those throws and that was tied for 49th turns reception so 20 plus yard passes you go back just a year he had six receptions on 11 targets for 210 yards no touchdowns but that was TI for 30th in receptions in 2022 and 3 first for yards in 2022 for 20 plus yard receptions so to keep that in mind khalif's actually been very successful on those types of throws as well we've just seen a much smaller sample size we've seen some of the big throws we've seen some of the long setups the the Green Bay Packers you know the the heave that he had to kif frame we've seen a few of those but again we've seen a lot of the fast motion deep comeback route B 25 yards we've seen the Deep out routes right we've seen the Deep dig routes late in the game where teams go to deep safeties we've seen a lot of those some similar things to what we also saw with Brandon Cook so just to kind of put some more numbers to that framan the other thing that I always look for again is beating man coverage and I think that Sam leapa last year I thought when we drafted him the difference that he was going to have for offense that he was going to be able beat man coverage and I think he proved that last year you could do it Sam Brown is probably our best in that area you lose Josh Reynolds you lose some of that because he's pretty good in that spot statistically speaking klie freman has that ability that's one area that I think must be brought up because he's good here he's been good here over the last three seasons and I think you do lose some of that without Josh Reynolds meaning that last season he had seven targets against band coverage caught six of those targets for 82 yards earning a 67.6 grade for PFF year before 12 targets 12 19 targets against man 12 receptions for 210 yards a 72 G against PFF and even go back to his first season with the Lions he had 10 receptions on 15 targets for 118 yards against man coverage he's statistically been good there and he typically can separate in those spots so I'm going to go through some of the plays and some of the notes that I had from kind of just rewatching play what is he going to bring to the table for the Lions and how can his role potentially expand for the Lions and why maybe we shouldn't be overlooking this guy because he's been reliable the Lions have paid him they believed in him and also at the same time he's a really he's a really good player so we'll start with the hands first this is an area where I already hit on the numbers he has good hands doesn't drop the ball very often now where I had limited his grade here is the fact that I don't think he's big time contest situations he obviously has a lack of catch radius in terms of being just a straight leaper um even on fade routes he also can allow guys to kind of get back into play recover get their hands into the play he's not going to box you out at the catch Point necessarily and create space I don't think he uses off hand extremely well you know just at the catch point to kind of wall off some space he's not really built like that he's obviously on a Slimmer side a little bit there I think he's got a little bit bigger since he came out for the draft but he's not great in those areas and through contested situations we haven't always seen the hands be consistent right and again the range radius can kind of diminish a little bit but in terms of not dropping the football you don't see that very often he rarely drops the football he shows soft hands he also shows very good reactiveness to the football underhand technique the scoop technique is extremely natural you see it on screens you see it over in the middle of the field you see the quick reactiveness kind of in those level one little Concepts where the ball's going to get on him in a hurry a hand catcher for chest and above catches he's also Fearless attacking the middle of the field which is another thing that Brandon Cooks would bring to the table he brings that fearlessness we've seen that and willingness to kind of get up in the air go Airborne over the middle of the field willingness understanding that he's going to take a hit after he comes down with the football so he's shown the ability in terms of just having hands natural hands he has those and he kind of brings some of to me that punp return technique to the table in terms of a lot of the underhand pass catching technique because it's so natural his transition speed is really good in those spots and it helps him a ton of like screens when the allance get the ball in in his hands quickly which again to what I pointed out earlier Brandon Cooks uh one of his three highest pass rating route Concepts was on screens and if you look at Kylie frm the last few years on screen passes last season nine targets nine receptions 104 yards year before that 12 receptions 12 targets before that seven receptions on eight targets I know it's the screen so it's a little bit weird but we know Kylie freman has been a big part on screen for the Lions so he has good tracking ability he Paces himself well to the football typically can get himself aligned and he also plays with really nice tracking speed as well again I think he could just do a better job at sometimes pulling himself back to the ball carving out a little bit more space at the catch point he just has some natural limitations there as well when we talk about separation ability so as I said I've always been enamored with his ability to just simply separate just watching his all 22 just watch him not catch the ball and you're always like man he just seems like he's open all the time and I understand in a way that can kind of happen with smaller receivers because they're so quick but he does a lot of his he creates a lot of separation and I think a a lot of ways that add consistency to his game but also still allows him to be such a consistent High catch rate uh High usage player for the Lions where when you throw it to him again A lot of times good things are happening you're not throwing it to him with a 70 pass rating usually when you're throwing it his way it's because he's open he's usually going to come down with a football and when you look at for separation he has the ability to open up all levels of the field for one routes you see the footwork there he's been very successful when you got him in Stacks you've worked him in those combo route situations I think he's very impactful like when he's lined up with running backs and he has some of the speed next to him there like jir Gibbs he's worked really well off of those guys he also brings that route running to the table that discipline that pacing understanding when to press the gas understanding do I need to push hard vertically am I trying to sell something underneath to kind of pull a Defender out of the play do I need to allow it to set up before I take off he has a really nice feel for that I think overall what you see with kie frayman the two things that stand out is awareness and crisp those are the two things that stands out as as a route Runner he runs with that crisp detail and a lot of awareness okay coverage moves he's aware of it he identifies it reacts sitting down in zone holes adapting the man coverage half turn coverage things are moving defensively High awareness you even seen in the press release but then also very crisp in how he does his route running as well routes like dig routes for example where I don't think that he'll be maybe as dynamic as a guy like Cooks could have was at times with the LA Rams and that's an area where again that's that's Jameson Williams this where you got to step up for us right you got to add more in this area for us that's where Sam leaport is going to live James Mitchell can live in that area but that's also Donovan peoples Jones that's his wheel house right that's not necessarily caulif framing consistently not say he can't always separate here he has the ability to make really deep sinks turns at the top of the route double moves he has really good ability to separate in those spots but consistently holding separation especially when he's not kind of breaking it in and then out with the timing or a speed out or just a pure dig route you don't always see some of that separation that he's able to maintain in those spots and again always finishing through traffic isn't going to be a strength so he can lose some separation in those thoughts like for example dig rods I don't think he's as great at just sticking planning and then striding out of brakes and being able to really create that separation through that instead it's a short area quick again we'll talk about some of this motion stuff I think he's a little bit tight at times feel like in the hips so you get like these extra steps trying to kind of flip directions or flip back to the football looking back to the ball on hitch routes but you do see the plant and stick with steep angles we see it against Dallas he also opens set up on level three the consistency at which he separates on the Deep post which again is where Brandon Cooks was super successful and if you look at it statistically khif Raymond with a pretty small sample size I mean he's not getting 112 targets like Cooks Scot 2018 yet he's still you know in 2022 he still 30th in terms of reception on 20 plus yard targets with six if he's getting instead of in 2022 60 targets he's getting 120 targets let's just say that number just say it doubles and he's getting 12 re receptions on 20 plus now a sudden he's in a whole different category how we're looking at kif Fram and I don't think he'll get there but I think that's just important to keep in mind is in terms of the percentage that's a strong percentage for Kye framan he's consistently separating in those spots where when you watch him he ability to set up double moves the crispness at the top of the route in those spots he has success running away from coverage consistently so you just talk about crossers this is where again without Jameson Williams right if you don't have J for a game who can add kind of that element of just pure speed he brings that for me he's less of a Strider than Jameson that's going to continuously separate as the play rolls on so it's a little bit more leaning into kind of the cuts the sinks separating in and out of breaks and being able to quickly get up to speed that's where he separates rather than just like run him vertically and let him continue to separate like he's not getting that because he doesn't ride out of his routes necessarily he gets up to speed though a lot faster and that's where the acceleration comes into play I Believe khi posted an unofficial 148 10 yard split coming out for the draft which is insane but you can see on here it's even that football intelligence when he's pressing that discipline soon as the quarterback open up stick it get up field on the play I mean it's all about that timing to not allow the quarterback to stick with it the ability to open up very complex routes so whip routes level one the consistency of which he creates separation comes back to the foot quickness it also comes back to the foot polish and the burst out of his brakes how quickly he can get up to speed in those spots feel like at times I feel a little bit of tightness when I watch him a little bit it's not as loose it's not as much shake or as agile so at times you'll feel like it kind of gets like a few extra steps to round it or really sink in through routes and lean through routes but you do get that foot quickness to work a lot of complex routes specifically on level one route he has that ability to get flat with ease deep out routes think of the comeback routes his ability to get flat back to the football right that ability to get flat at the top of the route it's also such a big impact of f motion that they utilize him on for on the snap to turn the corner push vertically attack quarterback's blind spot and then work off that how much success have we seen with kie fremond in those areas and that's a huge element of that as well is that ability to get flat at the top of the route that shows up in those spots as well I think he lacks some Nuance in terms of consistently changing Pace especially pressing at the top of the route to always push cornerbacks off their spot or force them to open up instead then he starts to kind of play through traffic unnecessarily but again even comeback routes you see the Polish within those that route running and then after the catch he's effective I don't think he's Elite after the catch I don't think he's consistently a home run threat after the catch and again I don't think he's the most agile or Shifty after the catch either also I think he's a little bit more reactive than creative he is effective here because he has a very quick transition ability plays with awareness immediately off the catch of where kind of the hole is in the coverage so he can knife up field immediately I think again he gets a little bit tight when it's like I'm looking back to the ball to make the crap being able to flip myself around then get upfield so on a hitch route being able to actually create yard with the catch that always feels limited finding the balance there finding the sink and the bend to do that but he does play with the feel where it's like I can kind of lean into the opening and as soon as I get the football I'm Tak we saw it against the Rams in 2021 and he's taking off he does play with consistent awareness in spots like that and that acceleration as soon as the ball gets in his hand ability to slam on the brakes in space while also being able to create Sharp Cuts just really easily again not not necessarily the best contact balance though he will fight and he will fight forward for first downs I think it shows up as a blocker when you just see some of the clips of him blocking like one of the things that I loved about khif and it was like so random but like let's say the offense turned the ball over he was always running back to try to get into the play even when the ball was oh here's a sack he's racing back to the quarterback to go pick him up like you always felt like you saw that with kie freman like he was going to play through he didn't get the football but he was never disappointed he didn't ever show the emotion it was like I'm racing back and he was just consistent racing back to the court the ball's out let me get back in play like there was never like a frustration feel with him on the field where it's like he was he was you know down he had his head down it still like I got to I got to go get the football he always had that mentality I think it showed up as a blocker as willingness but also a success we give so much credit to St Brown here we must also give credit to kie freman and what he does as a blocker and I think that shows up in his fight that he has for the first down contact balance and like playing through contact and being able to maintain speed I don't think is ideal necessarily either I think he does lose a lot of kind of Burst when he gets contact after the football Gets In His Hands we've also seen how Dynamic he is as a punt returner he's actually been really good there because he is decisive he'll get up field he's quick and he gets up to speed very quickly so you I mean you make a wrong angle on this guy and he's absolutely gone this is where I think he's a little bit limited release um another scenario they kind of move Cooks in and out like on the line off the line I think that there's some limitations here you'll see times where it feels like he's getting held up off the line of scrimmage I don't think he uses his hands incredibly well in terms of impact like keeping himself clean you do see active fans to work himself clean and kind of battle off cornerbacks that are trying to ride his hip but I don't think they're always as impactful as you would like to to see his footwork to me isn't always explosive in terms of like a single step to really press cornerbacks it's more so reliant on the footwork and how clean it is but also the quickness and really the suddenness but I love the most about his press release is specifically the awareness it's like okay cornerback playing inside leverage let me attack this way let me show you that skip step let me kind of paste this to then open it up so I can really be sudden play and then get a field and use that quickness off of my release and then try to kind of duck under the contact and then kind of keep my active hands alive that way I can try to kind of work myself clean a little bit there he also carries a lot of that weave from his release into the top of the route pressing off coverage cornerbacks pressing Zone coverage opening up other routes consistently you get a lot of the awareness and just the feel of the FBI and again he also brings that kind of fast motion element which he's been very impactful for the lions in that spot I think his route strength pops up as well as a little of an issue here again kind of like with the ball in his hands slows Downs this route you'll see him get rerouted a little bit he kind of struggles I think at times to deal with that so it's kind of H Miss in terms of getting off the line of scrimmage thing that I do hate personally is his inability to consistently maintain his stack that he can create early especially against man coverage will he'll allow quarterbacks to recover or undercut his routes he doesn't really put him on his hip or continue to create that separation I think some of that's from the lack of striding but I do not like how he kind of gives up some of the stack that he creates early he doesn't carry the most shake or agility either where he's really going to like be elusive off the line of scrimmage or really sell something inside and being able to shake out of the play it's more about the suddenness I think think that he brings off the line of scrimmage that being said though we just pulled back to being a route Runner and to me this is really where it's just so important it's like yo can you run routes to consistently get open and I think this speaks to the efficiency when the ball is thrown his way is where he's good at which is Route running I think this is where it comes into play discipline vertical push whether that's a level three route level one route level two very discipline pushing vertically eye discipline you know pumping his arms not necessarily giving the tail that he's about to sink he's super sudden into kind of those deep curl routes where you just don't expect it and boom it's like on you and he's right back to the football very sudden there you'll see with comeback routes he does utilize that off hand through the top of the routes I I wasn't expecting this with a guy at this size utilizing and this is why I know J Mo can do it being able to utilize into rout brakes kind of lean into contact and create separation off on like the Deep out routes that's something You' expect from a bigger bigger receiver that's just you know naturally just trying to bully somebody he does this at his side he kind of leans into the guys create separation attacking off coverage utilizing attacking the blind spot specifically then also the awareness you'll see it on like Stacks or on combo routes out here against the Jets and you kind of just see the vision where he kind of just waits for the quarterback to open up he's setting up that timing before he goes into his route you just see that awareness when you watch him play which opens up so much flexibility where he can also play on the field for the Lions and I thought that was a huge thing that they lost with Josh was just football intelligence a route Runner you definitely have a lot of that here with kie Raymond that can't be underestimated because it does add so much flexibility he like we can really put him anywhere and he's going to know what to do and he's usually going to time things up he's also going to help help other players get open as well but play with discipline footwork like we see on the Slants for example I think he loses discipline I think he plays with discipline through like Slants and kind of the footwork working through some of the speed routes um though I don't think it's always the most impactful and I think at times he can break discipline early in speed in speed routes again you'll see this on dig routes where his eyes will start to kind of peek inside versus holding that discipline upfield necessarily and guys can get a little bit of a key on when he's going to kind of break off his route he's much more sudden when we start to kind of pull that element away now I think he becomes a little bit less impactful but he does a great job dialing down into Zone coverage feeling upcoming Defenders hitting landmarks consistently this guy is the definition of being on time and again this is where like the the look at this this is Brandon Cooks running a post route off the playay action versus basically Kylie freman doing the exact same thing right fighting himself clean breaking the post route on time as soon as he h that break balls out and boom it's right on him and this guy's like the definition of he's hitting his spot when he's supposed to be there hitting his landmarks on time that is what thrives his golf and that leads to the efficiency because he's a good separator good pass catcher he's fearless and he is super consistent at hitting his landmarks on a time so that's what you get it adds so much value to everywhere that he can be on the field frayman adds to the table is he's just a pure team player and to me that's why a guy like this gets paid as early as he did because you just know exactly what you're going to get you know that he's going to be reliable for your team to me I didn't want to make that comparison to Brandon Cooks because I don't feel like he is I don't think he'll ever be able to put up that production because I think he's just got a little bit in some ways a little bit limited route Tree in terms of where you'd want him to run routes because of success I don't think maybe he's always as physically imposing or as explosive where it's like you're going to consistently get great results if you ask him to do these certain things if you just boilet it down to Josh Reynolds versus kie frayman the reason that you go with a guy klie frayman is because again it creates Clarity when you have Josh Reynolds a little bit less Clarity in certain spots who's going to play What role when you have Kye fremond it's clear doesn't need to be a starter can be a backup insid or outside but J Mo Your Role is to be there for the number two you become that guy Your Role really is as huge as you want to make it right you you show that you could be very versatile run a huge diverse route tree you consistently come out the football you consistently get open you dial in certaint routes like we talked about other video the the sky's the limit for you st Brown you're the one Sam leaport is going to eat I would just say don't overlook klie framan because I'm not going to sit here and say that I'm predicting he's going go 800 yards I I wouldn't predict that because it would take other things I think happening for that to happen I think J's going to have a big year so I can't go out actually say that I think that will happen because I think Gibbs is going to have more usage in the past game I think vaky has elements there I think again it's going to lean into Le to Saint J you guys are the guys it's clear like let's go you guys are the group but don't overlook klie frem because I think he actually adds the flexibility for this offense in the sense of how they can build this thing going forward and there's a reason they locked him up through 2025 not 2024 they locked him up through 2025 because they know that he adds that security to this offense and the roles are there to be earned people's Jones Antoine green you know you have different skill sets you know you can battle for spots get vertical you can do some things as catch people Jones he's physical he's a different style but khif adds kind of everything else to the table where it's like now you guys can work into those roles and khif is that really reliable like security blanket that you just have on the roster that you know is going to get the job done if he's asked upon the guy has just gotten better and better and to me he's a really good football player simple as that so overall I thought we just take some time to talk about khif today I felt like this was necessary so and if you just look back at like Brandon Cook's games and just going through his route tree I think there's a lot of similarities in what we've seen just in a larger sample size to Kye fremond so again to me I always use the Jameson Williams comparison there but I think it's worth saying that you know win healthy like if the pass protection is there which is what the L continue to invest in and you have the guy that's going to eat up receptions in St Brown you obviously have the guy that's the vertical imposing threat like that's the guy that's going to move people in James Williams but it's also opens that opportunity for KI Raymond to be effective in terms of if you have time in the pocket the guy's going to get open he's going to open all three levels now all of a sudden he becomes very impactful and what we know is over the last three years he's been extremely efficient so that being said me your thoughts comments below thank you pra for watching and m