Thread: Bears GM: Devin Hester to 'compete' for returner job

Originally Posted by Jimmors

What? If he quits (retires), the Bears dont have to pay him anything. And what "risk" are you eliminating by cutting him? And since when do you cut a player based on the "chance" that they bring a negative attitude/vibe to the locker room? Thats a first for the NFL.

The "risk" (even assuming he has no trade value, which should tell you something right there) is that you waste $2.1 million in cap space better used elsewhere on a player that plays the return game only on ST and no longer has either the heart or ability to do it well. Keeping an unproductive ineffective Hester is not "free".

I have no problem keeping him if he gets his shit together and can again be a productive returner. I have given up on him as a significant offensive weapon. And between him and Weems, only ONE should be on the roster come September.

Jimmors, in reality there is no chance because he does have an attitude problem. There has been cuts in the NfL for that very reason.

If he quits he won't pack up and leave, he'll likey ride the bench and collects his checks. Your assumption is that he'll revert to form as a returner, which based off last year's performance is a bit of a stretch.

Originally Posted by Jimmors

Its only a "risk" because you are assuming that he "no longer has either the heart or ability to do it well," which is a false assumption to make. Claiming that his salary is a waste of cap space is entirely predicated on that assumption.

Based on what I saw last year and have heard so far this offseason that assumption is far from without merit or concern. I would love to be proven wrong and hope I am. I fear otherwise and obviously the Bears top brass does too or they wouldn't feel the need to motivate him as they have.

I'd rather consider moving on now while DH still has some small trade/cap-savings value left because I strongly suspect that he will have none of either next year at this time. If Hester had added some plausible additional element to his game (offensively or defensively) by this point, we wouldn't be having this conversation. He hasn't and he's had years to do so.

Originally Posted by Jimmors

He has NEVER had an "attitude problem" while with the Bears. He has only copped an attitude this year after we fired Lovie, but its not a trend nor pattern of his behavior, it is simply an emotional outburst. There is no reason to assume that it would be an ongoing problem moving forward, since alot can happen between now and training camp. Im not saying its impossible that he wont have an attitude issue going forward, only that its wrong to assume he will because of his reaction to the loss of Lovie.

I sure hope you are right. However, during the emotional outburst he said he has felt this was for a while. Then after thinking about it a while, he says he wants to play a few more eyars, but maybe needs a fresh start and he doesn't want to play ooffense, which i take as a selfish reaction, regardless of performance. Then we have Toub saying Hester needs to have fun again, and drakes cooments about things need to be in line for him to susceed and he is frustrated. All of this leads me to believe there is a problem.

Originally Posted by soulman

I think there's a lot of truth here. Although the emotions he had when Lovie was let go were understandable his behavior wasn't. I realize that he's just another human being no different than the rest but in this case he needed to act more professionally than he did. There was plenty of time to commiserate with his team mates about it but as far as the press was concerned a "no comment" would have been just as effective at conveying his feelings.

I applaud Phil Emery for his approach. If what Devin needs is some motivation and competition to feel more alive and involved well then he's gonna get it. We don't have a guy who can replace him right now but I'd bet my last dime training camp will have several guys being given an opportunity to take his job away from him and if he doesn't respond to the challenge I'll be my other last dime (I always keep a spare) that he won't be on the opening day roster.

There's no longer any room on this team for guys unwilling to put out 100% plus every practice and every game. If Devin can't or won't do that we need a guy who will.

I'm all in favor of this approach and I suspect Emery is going to be looking in the latter rounds for a small-mid sized burner type slot WR/return man. A "Randall Cobb lite", so to speak. I doubt Hester makes it to camp without competition lined up, even competition based purely on the return game.

Problem is, Hester has for years now been a "training camp hero" who doesn't produce at that level when the real action starts. At least as far as being a WR goes.