I have heard Chicago Bears announcer Jeff Joniak of WBBM 780 say "Devin Hester you are ridiculous" over the years, but will he being saying that more this season?
We all know his nicknames, "Ridiculous," "Anytime," and "Windy City Flyer." We all have seen his amazing seven punt returns, four kick returns and two offensive scores, so we obviously know his ability.
Super Bowl XLI marked the first time a player returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown in the Super Bowl. He will increase his workload as wide receiver to as much as three times more than last season.
Is it a good idea to put him on the field as a receiver? You bet it is. He improves every quarterback's chance to throw a TD, but did you ever think that it would ruin his kick/punt returning ability?
You don't want to put him on the field too long; then he won't be able to return each kickoff and punt. I can see replacing Bernard Berrian and becoming the Bears #1 deep threat, which they are in dire need of.
I think they don't want to give him too much now, because they have not seen him play a whole season as a wide receiver. I hope he does very well next season, and I can see him scoring about seven or eight touchdowns on offense.
He won't be the Bears No. 1 target, because of the other receivers on the team will battle for his spot. Those receivers are Marty Booker, who is a solid veteran; Brandon Lloyd, who has said to have been the best in mini-camp so far; Mark Bradley, who has shown some ability but is injury prone; and Rashied Davis, who has stepped up his game.
If Hester explodes this season, he could turn into a Steve Smith who also has blazing speed.
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3 months ago
The problem with Hester on offense is that when he comes onto the field,
11 guys on defense and 50 more on the sidelines are shouting "23! 23! 23!"
In order for Hester to be used effectively, he needs to stay on the field for many
consecutive plays until the defense realizes they can't concentrate only on Hester.
That's when he can strike for a deep score.
As for his return game, I don't believe it will be affected at all by his playing time
on offense. What I think will slow him down a little bit is losing Brendon Ayanbadejo.
Brendon was such an amazing force on special teams, the Bears will miss him on
both returns and coverage.
3 months ago
I think the Bears need to use him as the decoy put him on the field, they are going to double up coverage on him anyways and leave other receivers wide open we saw that last year when he was on the field. I think something that will dog him is the contract, he beleives he should be making more, and he should, You have to pay him for what he has done and not for what he could do. No doubt a payday is in order but we have seen this before with many players they get the big contract and never make the big plays. But he needs to take reps, he needs to work with offense you can't throw him in there half way through the season and expect him to light it up.
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