Devin Hester can now pretend his hamstring injury has magically disappeared. Hester, who ended his holdout on Friday morning, sat out the last two days of practice with a "hamstring injury," closely resembling a don't-want-to-get-injured-before-a-new-contract strain.
The Chicago Bears, after pouring money towards their kicker Robbie Gould this offseason, finally came to terms with the most valuable player on the roster. The return man signed a four-year extension, with $15 million guaranteed. He'll receive $30 million in total and catch another $10 million if he can learned to consistently catch the football from the wide receiver position.
Sounds like a lot of cash, but that's #1 wide receiver money. There's also that other talent he has -- you've probably seen the highlights.
So now the question becomes - can he actually turn into a #1 receiver?
Speed? Check.
Route Running? Kind of, check.
Remembering the playbook? Not even close.
Last year, Muhsin Muhammad had to physically take Devin to his necessary position on 50% of his offensive snaps. That's not exactly what you want out of your primary receiver. And now that Moose is gone, Hester will have to be a big boy and remember the playbook. I remain weary.
That's ok, there's always the just run really fast in a straight line to the end zone and look up for the ball play. That's all Rex Grossman is good at, himself. Should be a fun season.
Too much cash for an unproven receiver? Or exactly what a dangerous return man deserves, regardless of what else he provides?
Hester’s new deal can reach $40 million [Sun-Times]
more
