|
|
|
|
 |
| Author | Post |
|---|
petrick229
Tailgater
| Joined: | Fri Jan 2nd, 2009 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 26 |
| Status: |
Offline
|
| Mana: |  |
| MyPOTD: |  |
|
#1 Posted: Sun Jan 4th, 2009 00:43 |
|
LAKE FOREST, Ill. – Devin Hester made strides in his first year as a regular contributor on offense in 2008, and the Bears are hopeful that he’ll continue to grow in that role next season.
Hester led Bears wide receivers with 51 receptions for 665 yards and 3 touchdowns, including a 65-yard score at Minnesota that was the team’s longest play from scrimmage all season.
Devin Hester had 51 receptions for 665 yards in his first season as a starter. “At times he played like a [No. 1] receiver,” said coach Lovie Smith. “If you just look at the progress that he made from start to finish, locking in at one position for the first time in his career … we like the progress he made, so there’s no reason to think he can’t take another jump.” Hester finished strong, catching 25 passes for 347 yards in the final six games after registering 26 receptions for 318 yards over his first nine contests. In the finale at Houston, he equaled a career high with six catches for 85 yards, which were his second most of the year.
“The beginning of the season was really kind of shaky,” Hester said. “As the season started going, I felt myself growing a lot the last month
|
|
|
 |
petrick229
Tailgater
| Joined: | Fri Jan 2nd, 2009 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 26 |
| Status: |
Offline
|
| Mana: | |
| MyPOTD: | |
|
#2 Posted: Sun Jan 4th, 2009 00:44 |
|
From that point on, I really felt comfortable, the last four or five games. Even though the season didn’t go the way we expected, I feel like I have grown as a receiver a lot.”
While Hester improved as a receiver, he struggled in the return game. After setting an NFL record with five kick return touchdowns as a rookie in 2006 and then breaking it with six in 2007, he failed to return any kicks for scores in 2008.
Hester was replaced on kickoff returns by Danieal Manning in mid-November and finished the season ranked 23rd in punt returns with a 6.2-yard average with a long of 25 yards.
“I still like Devin an awful lot as a player,” Smith said. “I know his returns dropped off a little bit this year, but his plate was full there for a while. We think we have a happy medium now for him as a punt returner and continuing to develop as a receiver.”
Bears general manager Jerry Angelo wasn’t surprised that Hester failed to make the same type of impact on special teams after being elevated into the starting lineup on offense.
|
|
|
|
petrick229
Tailgater
| Joined: | Fri Jan 2nd, 2009 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 26 |
| Status: |
Offline
|
| Mana: | |
| MyPOTD: | |
|
#3 Posted: Sun Jan 4th, 2009 00:47 |
|
“We said that was a possibility,” Angelo said. “I made this statement to Devin and I think I’ve said it here to some of you if not all of you [reporters] at one point: There’s never been a No. 1 receiver and a No. 1 kick returner. If there’s never been one, there’s probably a reason for that.
“So I anticipated the potential of Devin’s returns to fall off given the fact that we were going to escalate his play time at receiver. We wanted to escalate his play time and that’s the course we chose to go down.
“His returns did suffer. Now is that to say that’s the absolute reason why? I don’t know that. Teams got better with their coverage, being there was more of a sense of urgency. I’m sure they did a lot more studying in how to cover with Devin. There are probably other things there too. He wasn’t the returner he was in the last couple years.
"We’re going to look at that real hard and make sure we continue to define what his role is because the one thing that we know about Devin—and he showed it at receiver—is that he’s a playmaker. And when you get a playmaker, you want to make sure you get him the ball the best way you can to make as many plays as he can.”
|
|
|
|
Current time is 00:18 | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Icon Legend
Forum
New Posts
Topic
New Posts |
Announcement
Important
Topic Locked
Poll
|
|
Login
