They say you shouldn't give Devin Hester a present because he'll just return it, but the Bears should try anyway.  I've never seen a return man have such an impact on a team before.  The fact that teams would rather give the Bears the ball at the 40 than give Hester a chance is amazing.  He deserves a big huge extension.

only problem with this scenerio is this..   people acts like it is mandatory to change contracts if the player performs differently than expected..  but NEVER to the players loss..    all of those top 10 draft pick busts we hear about did not get told "you sucked..  we have decided that we will not release you because you might still be good someday but we also will not pay you unless to renegotiate to a much lower amount that is based on your lack of results so far"..

Hester signed a contract.   The bears have paid him what he agreed to..   He is not a free agent..   In fact, it is possible that if the collective bargaining agreement battle goes on long enough, they will end up getting an extra TWO years from him before he can leave..

Do I think his play would be worth a lot more than his salary if he was a free agent they were trying to sign ?   absolutely.

But they are under no obligation to renegotiate and if he doesn't play, this year doesn't count towards the time towards FA.

Now, I believe that the Bears should offer him more money but they should not be forced to pay him what he is worth..   any money they give him above what his contract is based on their good will, not on a requirement.

broken up for all of those who complain about having to read too much at once..

Do I think they ought to give him an offer of something like $4 million a year for the next 6 years, absolutely..  but if he gets more money than his contract entitles him to, then the Bears ought to get something extra they weren't already entitled to-- in this case, more years of him at a reasonable price (in fact, a discount) before he even gets a chance at testing the market.

But that won't happen 99 times out of 100..   players wants extra money, but are not willing to give back something like extra time at a discount.. 

Here is an example..  let's say Hester is worth $6 million a year and by some magic, we know right now that he will play exactly well enough to be worthy of that amount every single year for the next 10 years.    Right now he is earning far less than that and will be for let's say 5 more years (just to make a point, not saying that is how much time left in reality)...

He wants to renegotiate so that for those next 5 years where the team owes him far less right now..      Which is to HIS benefit, but not the teams.

Let's say the team says "ok, let's compromise..  we will rip up the contract if you sign a 10 year, $40 million deal with no opt out clauses"..  that way he gets more money now, but the team gets a discount from what they would be forced to pay once the old contract is over for the extra 5 years..    so you get 5 years that are to your advantage and we get 5 years that are to ours.

If that happened, most players would throw a fit and demand that they be paid at least $6 million a year later in the contract..

that is NOT CHANGING a contract.. that is voiding it..   in which case the player gets the freedom to go to whatever team he wants to...   

Hester is essentially holding a gun to the Bear's heads and threatening not to play.    Cutting a player cuts ties and gives the player potentially 31 other options (more if he goes and plays in one of the other football leagues)...    Hester has left the Bears with 2 realistic options (cutting him is technically an option but not a realistic one)..   Give in to his demands or call his "bluff" and let him sit out until the itch to play becomes too great while maintaining their claim to him so he can not sign anywhere else.      So it is not the same thing.

To repeat and say it more clearly..  cutting a player is not changing the contract.  Changing a contract is if a team said to a player--  "We WILL NOT CUT you and give you your freedom, but we have decided not to pay you as much.. so you can either sign a cheaper contract or we simply will not pay you anything but will retain our right to you so you can't sign with anyone else".     THAT IS THE EQUIVALENT TO WHAT HESTER AND OTHERS DO TO TEAMS.

Interesting that he signed that contract originally; after all, he was a 2nd round choice !

But I agree with Devin and it appears many other people here - he needs to be fairly compensated.....or else he's outta-here when this contract is up.