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

Personally, I'm done with Hester and would rather apply his 2mil to one of our FA's.
Thats a lot of money to spend on a kick returner who brings very little else to the table.

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Originally Posted by soulman

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.

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Eric Weems is a better kick returner than Hester at the moment, and he is a better coverage guy (because he does that too) AND most of all he is a better receiver. We don't really throw the ball to him, but he is a better blocker and better at route running. Oh, and he catches the ball too.

Competition is the right strategy. Right now Hester would lose if I were coach, but who knows what a new environment will do to his psyche?

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Originally Posted by Jimmors

Good grief, im glad Emery is in charge of this team instead of any of you guys, cutting him now is about the DUMBEST move we could make regarding this situation.

He is entering the last year of his contract, next offseason he will be a FA, and he's only making something like 1.8M in base salary i think, which isnt unreasonable. Devin's future is up to Devin, he can either decide to quit and retire, or decide he wants to play, even if that means returning to a K/PR role only, because he is no longer going to be a WR pet project of Lovie's, Trestman will not use him in a WR in a major way. So...if Devin decides he still wants to play, then he will put all his effort into playing because either 1)he will want a new contract in 2014, whether thats here or elsewhere, and players typically perform best in the last year of their contract for this reason, or 2)he will retire in 2014, and will still put in effort this year so he can go out on top, so to speak. Im pretty sure he wants to break Deion's return record at least.

But cutting him? That gives us nothing. Its not like we cant make up for his absence, its just a dumb move to make considering that there is more to gain by keeping him this year. And regardless of what you think of his attitude or intelligence, he is still one of the best returners in the game, and even if he isnt returning kicks for TDs like he used to, he is still a threat, and teams have to adjust their gameplan for him, much like Peppers. Pepp might not always get the sacks, but just having him there forces the other team to gameplan for him, and you cant underestimate the value of players such as that.

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Hit the nail on the head. :bow: