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In any negotiation, credibility is important. And Bears receiver/returner Devin Hester is taking a risk that he’ll have none in his current dispute with the Chicago Bears.
Because Hester says that he’s prepared to sit out the entire season, and that makes no sense at all.
“It’s time for me to take a stand,” Hester told the Chicago Sun-Times. “We’re going to stand by our decision to do this, and we feel like this can go down to whenever in the season or the end of the season. No matter what.”
If he sits out the season, he’d lose a year of service toward free agency, and he wouldn’t get credit for one of the two years left on his rookie contract. (To get credit for a contract year, he needs to show up by Week Ten of the regular season.)
Meanwhile, at more than $15,000 per day in fines, Hester’s bill to the Bears will in 30 days or so exceed his total base salary for the entire 2008 season of $450,000.
So Hester’s stance simply isn’t realistic. And the rhetoric could cause positions to harden, and make it more difficult to work something out in the short term.
Thus, the reality is that Hester will be back, unless he’s really stupid. Or unless he’s secretly won the lottery.
July 24th, 2008 at 8:42 am
Is “The Human Joystick” from a couple of years ago even in the league anymore? And, no I cannot remember his name. ‘Nuff said.
Hester has proven to be nothing more than a good kick returner and gimick wide receiver. Kick returners fall off the map much faster that even running backs. He may or may not deserve a raise of some sort. But if he’s looking for anything earth shattering then he’s and idiot.
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Rating: 4 / 5 with 7 rating(s)
July 24th, 2008 at 9:04 am
Yeah, um, Hester isn’t known around Chicago for his brainpower.
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Rating: 3.8 / 5 with 5 rating(s)
July 24th, 2008 at 9:21 am
What’s the precedent for elite kick returners with regard to salary?
In other words, what would the market bear for the best returner in the league who has proven he can do nothing else?
As AllSeeingEye astutely pointed out, kick returners, even the great ones, don’t tend to last very long in the league. Players should get paid for what they WILL do on the field, not for what they HAVE done. Can we expect Hester’s future performances to equal those of the past?
If we can, how much is Hester missing being that he’s “stuck” in his current contract?
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Rating: 3.65 / 5 with 3 rating(s)
July 24th, 2008 at 9:38 am
If Hester was an every down kind of player or at least a guy who gives you something on the offensive or defensive side of the ball than he would have a leg to stand on. He’s a SPECIAL TEAMS player. The most he can expect to make is 1 million a year at best. Maybe he should go work on other football skills and give him something to entice the ownership to invest more into his ability. Like the other poster said, where is Dante Hall today??
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Rating: 4 / 5 with 5 rating(s)
July 24th, 2008 at 10:04 am
Man up, honor your commitment. That’ll speak volumes more towards getting more money in the end then being a spoiled baby who pouts and quits when he doesn’t get his way.
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Rating: 3.5 / 5 with 2 rating(s)
July 24th, 2008 at 10:06 am
agreed, he should have held out last year. likely jumping the shark right now.
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July 24th, 2008 at 10:09 am
Two words for you Hester: Todd Bell
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 1 rating(s)
July 24th, 2008 at 10:12 am
Alright, assuming elite special teams players might expect to earn $1 million a year, Hester is incurring $15,000 per day fines hoping to increase his salary by $500,000?
Isn’t that cutting off his nose to spite his face?
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 1 rating(s)
July 24th, 2008 at 10:12 am
Hester has been special for the Bears since he put on his uniform. And even if he is only playing special teams he is STILL the Bears best offensive weapon….and the only real difference maker that they have. But he’s not just playing special teams, he’s also their default best receiver. They’ve screwed themselves by having no one else. Marty Booker? Please. I’m not sure what Hester is asking for, but he is definately worth a lot more than what they are paying him….and they only have themselves to blame for giving him the leverage he has by not having a single other playmaker on the entire roster.
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Rating: 2.85 / 5 with 6 rating(s)
July 24th, 2008 at 10:25 am
as a staunch bears fan, I say let him holdout. Jerry Angelo has ALWAYS been fair in taking care of players after their 3rd season on the team: see tillman, vasher, harris, etc. I have no doubts hell do the same for Hester.
Sure it will impact the return game somewhat, but let’s not forget that adrian peterson is more than capable on kickoffs and we could put vasher back to field punts.
“Move on or move out!!”
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 3 rating(s)
July 24th, 2008 at 10:41 am
Trade his ass.
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Rating: 4.25 / 5 with 4 rating(s)
July 24th, 2008 at 10:44 am
As things currently stand, Hester is grossly overpaid and doesn’t merit a reworked contract. Then again, neither did Urlacher. Chicago has nobody to blame but themselves for the position they currently find themselves in. They really set a bad precedent when they chose to rework Urlacher’s contract.
Since the Bears appear to be in the running for poorest run franchise in the NFL (see Urlacher, Thomas Jones, Bernard Berrian, entering the season with Grossman/Orton at QB and Booker/Lloyd as receivers, etc) I’m sure they’ll cave to Hester’s demands. Idiots.
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 1 rating(s)
July 24th, 2008 at 11:07 am
Allow him to seek a trade and new contract and you will see he has a very good point.
He can get 10 times his current price on the open market.
Returning kicks is very dangerous. Playing football is very risky.
He may be better of finacially not doing it at his current salary. He is young enough that even if he does not play full time for the next 2 years, just shows up to practice at week 10, he will be a highly sought after free agent eventually.
He may have an NFL contract, but he does not have to play football. Perhaps he can play center feild or something. The Olympics. There has to be a hoops team somewhere that can use a really fast pointgaurd or something.
He may not have many other football options, but I bet he can find some way to get paid while he waits for free agency.
I would pay @$1 just to watch him play flag football or even tag. Perhaps he can be a Futbol star.
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Rating: 1 / 5 with 4 rating(s)
July 24th, 2008 at 11:15 am
“Thus, the reality is that Hester will be back, unless he’s really stupid.”
A wonderlic wonder he’s not. But that’s been the rap on him since college, right? He couldn’t learn the playbook for the offensive side of the ball and that’s why he was relegated to reactionary positions: DB & returner.
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 2 rating(s)
July 24th, 2008 at 11:40 am
“Is “The Human Joystick” from a couple of years ago even in the league anymore? And, no I cannot remember his name. ‘Nuff said.”
No doubt. I’ve been trying for the last 5 minutes to remember his name but I can’t for the life of me. I know the Rams picked him up and I never heard from him again. Is it the players that are getting dumber or is it their agents that are just giving increasingly bad advice to impressionable players these days?
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 1 rating(s)
July 24th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
human joystick is Dante Hall? odd nicknme
for the Hester haters you have no football sense.
The guy wins 2 games a year himself. He is one of the biggest playmakers in the NFL. He is just as valuable to the Bears as Urlacher and he gets an 18 million dollar one year contract and Hester is to rec a half mill? please? That is an injustice and I don’t blame him for sitting out.
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Rating: 1 / 5 with 1 rating(s)
July 24th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
Dante Hall played in 7 games for the Rams last year before being injured. He averaged 25.1 on kickoff returns and 15.1 on punt returns. He had an 85 yrd PR TD and an 84 yrd KR that did not result in a TD.
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July 24th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
D-HO:
(1) You’re right, letting Thomas Jones go was a bad idea. He really lit it up for the Jets last year, didn’t he?
(2) Rewarding Urlacher was more than just paying Urlacher. It’s telling the vets that they’re important, it’s letting players know that if they do well, they’ll be rewarded. That’s not an impediment to future contracts, it’s an asset.
(3) If Berrian turns into an elite receiver, I guess it was a bad move letting him go. But as it is, he’s a speedster who runs sloppy routes and only got credit because Grossman has a man-crush on him. He won’t pass to anyone else unless they’re wearing a different jersey. If we want a mediocre WR with some speed, we have Hester and Bradley. The Bears avoided paying for a one-trick pony who’s valued far above his worth.
(4) Booker > Mohammad, we lost nothing there.
(5) Lloyd is signed for the league minimum. If he doesn’t perform in camp, the Bears cut him, nothing lost. At all. No bonus, no nothing. Anyone who’s watched him play has seen him make some spectacular catches; he has upside, if they can use it, great. If he doesn’t show it, he’s gone at no cost. Actually, quite a shrewd move if you ask me.
(6) Orton/Grossman: Yeah, I got nothing here. Don’t know why they didn’t at least draft a QB, there were some talents available at bargain spots. Oh well.
(7) Hester is dumb as a brick. That’s why he wasn’t a great DB, that’s why he couldn’t memorize the limited playbook he had last year. If you watched any Bears game, you saw Hester line up out of position, run the wrong route with the wrong timing, or stand by while the guy he’s supposed to block blows past and makes a tackle. His instincts are unparalleled, that’s why he returns so well. But a skill position player he’s not, and never will be. That’s why the holdout, that’s why he can’t see the Harris and Urlacher signings as proof he’ll be taken care of. That’s why he makes threats of sitting out the whole season. He’s an idiot, and they won’t cave. Once the bills start coming in, things will change. Perhaps Briggs should give Hester a call, let him know how these things work out in the end…..
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 3 rating(s)
July 24th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
Dante Hall and he was traded to the Rams.
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July 24th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
DH was called the human joystick cause of the way he also jiggled his head to juke tacklers. the move where he feinted to run between 2 rams that he couldnt have gotten betweeen… infamous. they moved fast toward each other and that was that. they fell down and he ran around them.
no way kc goes 13-3 that year without him.
he is still ok but lets face it, bad teams often have good special teams. the rams went 3-13 with him doing well. he did well but still wasnt a difference maker.
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 1 rating(s)
July 24th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
Hester is at least as stupid as Ben Gordon, if you’ve ever watched post game interviews, it’s things like “Uh yeah, we won because we tried to score more points than they scored.”
Hester deserves a new contract cause he’s still on his rookie contract that he’s out performed. Longevity is a concern but as long as he keeps doing what he’s doing on special teams he’s worth about a million a year, maybe a little more. When your offense can hardly ever get a first down an awesome kick or punt return is often the difference between a 4 punts in a row and 3 punts and then a field goal, here in Chicago you’ve gotta find the bright spots where you can. It should be worked so that if he learns to receive more than just basic go routes and becomes a regular contributer he would get paid as such, but as DGB pointed out, his intelligence raises big question marks as to whether he’ll ever be able to do that.
What worries me is the possibility that he’s just an idiot and he has some agent who doesn’t give a damn about Hester and will get Hester to stomach those fines until he gets a contract that was completely not worth it to stomach those fines over, cause I really don’t think he’d know it if he was being taken advantage of. Still, the Bears recognize his position and even the stupidest animal realizes if you get shocked for doing something to stop doing it. We’ll see what happens on August 4th, because no one associated with Hester does themselves any favors in putting off his access to the open market another year.
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July 24th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
gobearsgo:
(1) Trading your best offensive player (Jones) away so you could conduct the Cedric Benson experiment was real bright. How’d that one work out for you? One can’t control injuries. At least Jones is still playing football. What’s Benson doing? Ahh, I remember now: He’s collecting unemployment and using it to stock up on soap-on-a- rope.
(2) Rewarding Urlacher WAS a huge mistake. For starters, he’s not the best middle linebacker in the league (he’s not even the best linebacker on his team), and he hasn’t outplayed his contract. All the Bears have managed to do was show that if a player pouts enough, he’ll get rewarded.
(3) I was in no way trying to imply that Berrian is an elite receiver (he’s not and likely never will be); however, he was the best receiver they had (and with the trade of Thomas Jones - became the best offensive player they had). Man-crush or not, Berrian managed to put up fair numbers for a guy who drew all the coverage for a completely putrid offense. So much for your theory that the Bears want to give the impression they give a damn about their vets.
(4) The point with Lloyd/Booker is they are not an upgrade at all (Bradley isn’t the answer, either). There’s no doubt that Hester was going to play a huge part in the team’s offensive plans for the season (that’s the only plausible explanation for letting Muhammad and Berrian go). All the Bears have managed to do was ensure they might very well set a new NFL record for fewest offensive TD’s in a season.
(5) I couldn’t have described Hester any better myself, but the Bears have a track record of being lousy evaluators of talent - particularly on the offensive side of the ball - and quite possibly could be as dumb (or dumber) than Hester (if that’s possible). No Hester = no playmakers = few wins. I think they cave.
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July 24th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
*waits for Eagles fans to say trade him for Sheppard*
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July 24th, 2008 at 2:09 pm
“He may have an NFL contract, but he does not have to play football. Perhaps he can play center feild or something. The Olympics. There has to be a hoops team somewhere that can use a really fast pointgaurd or something.”
really jeremiah you need to stop posting. you claimed vinny testeverde is not as good as aaron brooks. and now you think that hester can simply go and play center field somewhere? making the majors isnt that easy. or being in the olympics? c’mon hester’s not that fast. and stating that he automatically qualifies as a point guard. you must assume that because he’s black he can excel at any sport.
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 1 rating(s)
July 24th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
First of all if you don’t think Vinny is/ was/ always will be a bad QB, you must not have watched him before he played for the Jets.
“Style is incomlete same Vinny Testaverde” Fife, Tribe Called Quest @93. Vinny was the biggest 4th quarter folder I ever saw. I swore he used to have money on the other team the way he would throw unforced interceptions in the 4th.
Hester is the fastest, most agile guy his size I have ever seen. I don’t know if he can play hoops or baseball, but I bet he could. Maybe not better than Jordan did, but that does not mean he would make less money as a minor leauge baseball player than he would as the Mike Jordan of kick returners.
He is better than Hall was at his best. He is better than Deion Sanders was at his best. I don’t know what that is worth exactly, but I know I would want my team to trade for him and give him a big contract. I bet we can even get him coached up enough to be effective on either offense or defense as well.
In the mean time, If Hester does not want to risk shattering his money maker for his current compensation, who can blame him? He can try his hand at something else until his contract expires or they decide to pay him enough to risk it.
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Rating: 1 / 5 with 2 rating(s)