Hester hopes for many happy returns

LAKE FOREST, Ill. — When Devin Hester’s phenomenal rookie season as a return man turned into an assault on the NFL record books in his second year, the man with more return touchdowns in NFL history than anyone else took notice.

And Brian Mitchell started rooting for Hester to knock down his record of 13 scores, a figure that took him 14 seasons with three organizations to reach.

“You tell Devin when you see him I said, ‘Good luck,’ ’’ Mitchell said at the time. “I’m watching him.”

Mitchell was mesmerized like the rest of the football world at Hester’s explosion on the scene in Chicago, his ability to bob and weave until he finds a lane and then jet upfield. Before you know it, he’s behind 21 other players with speed no one can match. He returned a punt for a touchdown in the first game of his rookie season, ran back two kickoffs for scores later that season at St. Louis and had six return touchdowns in the final 11 weeks of 2007 with another two-score game against Denver.

Then came his transition to starting wide receiver in 2008, a move made of necessity following the departures of Bernard Berrian and Muhsin Muhammad. That duty was combined with kickoff returns and punt returns and it simply didn’t work. The Bears relieved Hester of kickoff return duties in mid-November, and he never found his groove on punts, although it should be noted the Bears had significant turnover on special teams and lost Pro Bowl performer Brendon Ayanbadejo in free agency. Hester looked lost, getting dropped for significant losses on a couple punt returns. He went from averaging 15.5 yards per return in 2007 to 6.2. His long was 25, and he didn’t so much as sniff the goal line.

“You can get into a funk as a return man, but I think his problem last year is he was more focused on being a receiver, and that takes away from it,” Mitchell said. “People, when they start playing another position, they try to preserve their energy, and by preserving energy, it takes away from the instinctive, aggressive nature you have as a return man.

“The Redskins have dealt with the same thing with Antwaan Randle El. I just say when guys become full-time receivers and running backs and all that, it takes a little bit away from it. I don’t understand why a return man doesn’t get as much credit if the credit is deserved because that is a full-time job in itself. You can’t approach being a return man, trying to play full speed, and be full time at another position because you need all the energy you can have and it’s one of those high-risk, high-reward propositions.”

Interestingly, Hester never would have become a Bear had the Redskins not blown Randle El away with a contract in free agency in 2006. He signed a $31-million, seven-year contract, far more than he Bears offered. They were pursuing Randle El, a native of the Chicago suburbs, who wanted to come home. Instead, the Bears drafted Hester in the second round, and the rest is history – or for the history books. Even without a return touchdown last season, Hester has 11, two back of Mitchell and one behind Dante Hall and Eric Metcalf.

Chicago waited until the third preseason game Sunday at Denver to line Hester up deep as the punt returner. He’s off kickoffs permanently with Danieal Manning now in that role. Hester misplayed the first two punts by Brett Kern, letting one bounce in front of him and roll for 59 yards, then calling for a fair catch at his own 5-yard line. When he finally got a punt he could return, he darted right and raced upfield, streaking 54 yards to the Broncos’ 4-yard line.

“It was good to see him have some success,” special teams coordinator Dave Toub said. “He made some bad decisions, but you take the good with the bad. If that one doesn’t go out of bounds, it looked like that one might have gone. That whole sidelined looked open. I’m glad we got him in there.”

Mitchell played under Toub in Philadelphia when Baltimore coach John Harbaugh oversaw special teams and Toub was an assistant.

“I think Dave has had a ton of involvement in Devin’s success,” Mitchell said. “The return game, if you look at the scores he had those years, it wasn’t like he just ran around everybody. He had a lot of big holes. He had guys that were getting one block, sometimes two and three blocks, the same guy, and Dave Toub is very good at getting people to understand if you do your job, if you make your block, that can be the block that springs it.

“Dave is very good. He learned a lot of from John. They are very positive and they have a lot of constructive things they say to people. Some special teams coaches are constantly yelling all the time and don’t even think to praise guys when they do things right. They’re not that way.”

The best-case scenario for the Bears is that Hester achieves some early success this season in the return game and that sparks some confidence for his game overall. Toub is preaching to the linemen to hold their blocks a little longer at the line of scrimmage so Hester will have room to pick up the first five yards or so before having to make someone miss. The rest is on him.

“Don’t knock last year,” Hester said. “After the first two years, you expected more out of me last year and I didn’t put up the numbers I had. I am just getting back into the groove. I am just getting back in a rhythm with it.”
Mitchell is still rooting for him, figuring Hester will only draw more attention to the work people like himself already accomplished.

“It was unbelievable for me just to watch him and see the love he was getting,” Mitchell said. “Somebody had the record when I broke it and there’s an old saying, records are made to be broken.”



(naitonalfootballpost.com)