Last season Devin Hester made the switch from full time kick returner/punt returner to full time receiver.
Hester saw his numbers go up because he was not only the number one receiver, but he actually knew all of the plays.
Here are his all time career receiving stats:
2006: N/A
2007: 20 receptions, 299 yards and two touchdowns
2008: 51 receptions, 665 yards and three touchdowns
Even though Hester saw his numbers go up, he could have had a monster year if he had a quarterback with a better arm than Kyle Orton.
The switch to receiver took away from his return game last season, where he had zero touchdowns on both punts and kick returns. His average at kick returning was similar to 2007, but his punt returning average was split in half compared to 2007.
You won’t see the incredible Devin Hester forcing kickers and punters to kick the ball away from him anymore, but you will see Danieal Manning and Johnny Knox returning kicks this season
You will also watch Hester’s speed and determination help him get into the end zone. The Cutler and Hester combo should be pretty sweet this upcoming season.
I am pretty excited that the Bears finally have a big time quarterback, who can actually get the ball down the field.
Having Devin Hester on the field with a big time quarterback, should give him the chance to take the it the distance every time, he is one dangerous player.
I would warn teams to watch for Hester at all times on offense and lets not forget that he will still be returning punts.
So, I think with a reduced role on special teams and a solid quarterback with a big time arm, he should be nothing but ridiculous this season.
What do you think?
July 6th, 2009 at 1:16 pm
I’m with you on the Hester breakout. People denouncing are basically, well, stupid. Your words weren’t strong enough when it came to Orton (as much as I did like him). He threw an AWFUL deep ball. Hester was open deep a lot and Orton missed him most of the time. Connect on those and Hester’s numbers jump big time. I wish I had tape to go through and document what Hester’s numbers could have been had Orton been able to connect. Don’t forget Hester also drew a handful of long interference penalties. He doesn’t get those stats, but for the offense, they count and he’s the one who created them. Just based off last season, most people miss this about Hester, think his numbers were pedestrian, but really he showed more than just #1 potential.
With Cutler the expectation is all that potential will be realized. Now I will concede maybe Hester got open deep because no one feared Orton. It’s certainly a possible part of the equation. With Cutler that won’t be the case, so the secondary will take deeper drops and Hester won’t be open deep as much as he was last year. I say great. If so, Olsen will become a superstar. Forte’s receiving numbers will actually improve and even Davis will catch undercoverage balls all day long.
As for his punting. I will say he was more tentative and trying to run back to break something and hopefully they’ll get him more north/south. But two things. First, what Hester did his first two years frankly was unsustainable. To expect that every year is unrealistic. He was bound to regress. Guy’s hit .400 over the course of a few weeks, maybe even a month or two, but they don’t even come close to doing for a year and certainly not year after year. Second, yes Manning basically replicated Hester on kickoffs, but I didn’t see the punt blocking as being as good last year. As special as Hester is/was, you still need the 10 other guys to do a credible job and it didn’t seem that credible last year. I also think one of his biggest returns last year (40 yards or so) was called back on a bogus or non-blocking penalty.
So, all in all, everyone needs to improve. The blocking needs improvement and Hester has to stop dancing and just get up field at full speed. I think those two things have more of an impact than him being tired or distracted just because he’s a full-time receiver. That storyline is lazy and overblown.
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